RESUMEN
Canine splenic fibrohistiocytic nodules traditionally encompassed benign lymphoid hyperplasia, complex hyperplasia, and malignant fibrous histiocytoma. The latter has been recently re-classified into histiocytic sarcoma and stromal sarcoma. Reliable indicators of post-splenectomy survival and demographic factors predisposing to the four types of nodules are not completely understood. This study aims to estimate frequency, survival times, and identify risk factors of splenectomized dogs diagnosed with lymphoid hyperplasia, complex hyperplasia, histiocytic sarcoma, and stromal sarcoma using medical records containing histopathological diagnosis from the VetCompass Australia database (1989−2018), which collects demographic, and clinical information from veterinary clinics. Out of 693 dogs, 315 were diagnosed with fibrohistiocytic nodules, mostly lymphoid hyperplasia (169/693, 24.4%), followed by stromal sarcoma (59/693, 8.5%), complex hyperplasia (55/693, 7.9%), and histiocytic sarcoma (32/693, 4.6%). Dogs aged 8−10 years were more likely to be diagnosed with histiocytic or stromal sarcoma than lymphoid hyperplasia. Dogs diagnosed with lymphoid hyperplasia had a longer survival time than those with other diagnoses (median > 2 years). Dogs diagnosed with histiocytic sarcoma had longer survival times (median 349 days) than stromal sarcoma (median 166 days). Results suggest that knowledge of the type of splenic fibrohistiocytic nodule, patients' age, and sex can be used to increase prognostic accuracy.
RESUMEN
An 8-y-old, castrated male Siberian Husky dog was admitted to an emergency clinic with acute collapse and severe swelling of both forelimbs, ventral thorax, and axillary region. The clinical assessment, with laboratory tests and radiologic investigation, confirmed severe subcutaneous emphysema and multi-organ failure. The animal died while receiving emergency treatment. On postmortem examination, Clostridium perfringens was isolated from the subcutaneous fluid and the effusion from the thoracic and abdominal cavities. Relevant histopathology findings included subcutaneous emphysema and multi-organ perivascular and intravascular, intralesional myriad 0.5-3-µm gram-positive rod bacteria, with no associated inflammation. Whole-genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis identified C. perfringens type A. Virulence genes detected included cpa (alpha toxin), cadA (v-toxin), colA (collagenase A), nagH (hyaluronidase), nanH, nanI, nanJ (sialidases), and pfoa (perfringolysin). These virulence genes have previously been reported to act synergistically with alpha toxin in C. perfringens-mediated gas gangrene.