Computed Tomography-Guided Fine Needle Biopsies of Vertebral and Paravertebral Lesions in Small Animals.

Fine needle biopsy (FNB) is an effective, minimally invasive and inexpensive diagnostic technique. Under computed tomography (CT)-guidance, lesions that have a difficult approach can be sampled to reach a diagnosis. The aim of this study is to describe the use of CT-guidance to obtain FNB from vertebral and paravertebral lesions in small animals. Ten dogs and one ferret that had undergone CT-guided FNB of vertebral and paravertebral lesions and had a cytological or a histological diagnosis were included in this retrospective study. The FNB samples were taken in four cases from the vertebra, in two cases from the intervertebral disc and in five cases from the intervertebral foramen. Two infectious and nine neoplastic lesions were diagnosed. The percentage of successful FNB was 91%. The percentage of samples with a cytological diagnosis was 80%. The percentage of complications was 9%. Limitations were the small number of animals in the study, the lacking complementary percutaneous biopsies for comparison, the lacking final histological diagnoses in some cases and the intervention of multiple operators. Computed tomography-guided FNB is a useful and safe technique for the diagnosis of vertebral and paravertebral lesions in small animals. However, a degree of expertise is important.

Ultrasound-Guided Radiofrequency Ablation of Chemodectomas in Five Dogs.

Chemodectomas are low prevalence tumors with complex clinical management. Many present as an incidental finding however, in other dogs, they produce pericardial effusion and/or compression, leading to the appearance of severe clinical signs. There are currently several approaches: surgery, radiotherapy, stent placement and chemotherapy. This is the first description of percutaneous echo-guided radiofrequency ablation of aortic body tumors. This minimally invasive treatment is based on high frequency alternating electrical currents from an electrode that produces ionic agitation and generates frictional heat, causing coagulation necrosis. Five dogs with an echocardiographic and cytological diagnosis of chemodectoma underwent percutaneous echo-guided radiofrequency ablation. At the time of presentation, all the dogs showed clinical signs, such as ascites and/or collapse. There were no complications either during the procedure or in the following 24 hours. Rapid clinical improvement associated with a reduction in size and change in sonographic appearance of the mass were achieved with no complications. Six months follow-up was carried out in all dogs. A second percutaneous echo-guided RFA was performed eight months after the first procedure in one dog. Based on our experience, radiofrequency ablation seems to be a feasible and safe technique, making it a potential alternative therapeutic approach in the clinical management of aortic body tumors leading to severe clinical compromise.

Humoral responses to SARS-CoV-2 by healthy and sick dogs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.

COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. Infections of animals with SARS-CoV-2 have recently been reported, and an increase of severe lung pathologies in domestic dogs has also been detected by veterinarians in Spain. Therefore, further descriptions of the pathological processes in those animals that show symptoms similar to those described in humans affected by COVID-19 would be highly valuable. The potential for companion animals to contribute to the continued transmission and community spread of this known human-to-human disease is an urgent issue to be considered. Forty animals with pulmonary pathologies were studied by chest X-ray, ultrasound analysis, and computed tomography. Nasopharyngeal and rectal swabs were analyzed to detect canine pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. An additional twenty healthy dogs living in SARS-CoV-2-positive households were included. Immunoglobulin detection by several immunoassays was performed. Our findings show that sick dogs presented severe alveolar or interstitial patterns with pulmonary opacity, parenchymal abnormalities, and bilateral lesions. The forty sick dogs were negative for SARS-CoV-2 but Mycoplasma spp. was detected in 26 of 33 dogs. Five healthy and one pathological dog presented IgG against SARS-CoV-2. Here we report that despite detecting dogs with α-SARS-CoV-2 IgG, we never obtained a positive RT-qPCR for SARS-SoV-2, not even in dogs with severe pulmonary disease; suggesting that even in the case of canine infection, transmission would be unlikely. Moreover, dogs living in COVID-19-positive households could have been more highly exposed to infection with SARS-CoV-2.

Clonality testing in the lymph nodes from dogs with lymphadenomegaly due to Leishmania infantum infection.

INTRODUCTION: In southern European countries, multicentric lymphoma and leishmaniosis are the main differential diagnoses in dogs presented with generalized lymphadenomegaly. The cytological examination is in some cases inconclusive and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for antigen receptor rearrangement (PARR) has become a common method to confirm or rule out a lymphoproliferative neoplasia. According to the literature, leishmaniosis may lead to clonal arrangements and therefore to a false diagnosis of lymphoma, but this assumption is made from a single leishmania infected dog. Therefore, the objective of this study was to prospectively evaluate results from PARR in dogs with lymphadenomegaly due to clinical leishmaniosis at the moment of diagnosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 31 dogs with a diagnosis of leishmaniosis based on the LeishVet guidelines were included in the study. Samples from enlarged lymph nodes were taken for cytological examination, clonality testing and Leishmania infantum PCR. RESULTS: All 31 dogs had medium to high positive antibody titers against Leishmania spp. and 30/31 had a positive Leishmania PCR from the lymph node. A polyclonal arrangement for B cells (immunoglobulin heavy chain gene) and T cells (T-cell receptor gamma chain gene) antigen receptors was found in 28/31 dogs. Two out of 31 dogs showed a monoclonal arrangement for Ig with high (1:2) and low (1:7) polyclonal background respectively; and one of the 31 dogs showed a monoclonal arrangement for T cell receptor with low (1:3) polyclonal background. CONCLUSION: Infections with Leishmania infantum resulted in clonal rearrangement, and therefore in a possible false diagnosis of lymphoma, in 3 out of 31 dogs (9.7%). Although, PARR is a useful method to differentiate lymphoma from reactive lymphoid hyperplasia in dogs with leishmaniosis, mono-/biclonal results should be interpreted carefully, especially in the presence of any degree of polyclonal background, and together with other clinicopathological findings.

Prevalence of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage in competing endurance horses.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) among elite endurance horses after competition in a long-distance race. ANIMALS: 20 endurance horses and 12 nonexercised or minimally exercised age-, breed-, and trainer-matched horses from the same environment (control horses). PROCEDURES: Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples collected from endurance horses at 3 to 8 days (sample A) and 36 to 38 days (sample B) after the race (100 km in 1 day [n = 3], 70 km/d for 2 days [12], or 100 km/d for 2 days [5]) were cytologically examined for the presence of hemosiderophages. Samples from control horses were collected at the same time as sample B was obtained from respective matched endurance horses and similarly examined. Horses with bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples in which > 1% of identified cells were hemosiderophages were considered to have evidence of EIPH. RESULTS: Of 20 endurance horses, 9 (45%; 95% confidence interval, 25% to 66%) and 10 (50%; 95% confidence interval, 29% to 71%) had cytologic evidence of EIPH in samples A and B, respectively. Evidence of EIPH was present in 6 of 20 (30%) horses at both sample collection times, 3 (15%) at the first sample time only, and 4 (20%) at the second sample time only. In contrast, 1 of 12 control horses had cytologic evidence of EIPH. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The prevalence of EIPH in these elite endurance horses (45% to 50%) was higher than previously reported estimates for poor-performing endurance horses; however, differences in criteria for identification of EIPH should be considered when comparing findings between studies.

Comparison of traditional statistical quality control using commercially available control materials and two patient-based quality control procedures for the ADVIA 120 Hematology System.

BACKGROUND: Quality control procedures are an important part of the overall quality assurance for production of accurate and reliable hematologic results. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to validate a quality control material-based procedure and assess two patient-based quality control procedures (repeat patient testing [RPT] and average of normals [AoN]) with the ADVIA 120 Hematology System. METHODS: Requirements for quality control procedures were obtained with the computerized statistical and quality program, EZRules3. The procedures were evaluated comparing the probability of error detection (Ped), probability of false rejection (Pfr), and sigma metrics. RESULTS: All three of the quality control procedures could be applied with 1-3s control rules, achieving the desired quality requirements. Validation of the quality control materials achieved values for Ped and Pfr of ≥90% and 0%, respectively. Patient-based procedures obtained a ≥85% Ped and a 0% Pfr, except for platelets in the AoN procedure, which achieved a 77% Ped. The RPT achievable total errors were similar to those of the traditional quality control materials and the AoN procedures, except for platelets, which had an achievable total error of 75%. CONCLUSIONS: Patient-based procedures are suitable for veterinary laboratories. The RPT approach may benefit laboratories with limited budgets and low hematology caseloads. The AoN procedure may benefit laboratories with higher hematology caseloads.

Canine Pancreas-Specific Lipase and C-reactive Protein in Dogs Treated With Anticonvulsants (Phenobarbital and Potassium Bromide).

Animals treated with anticonvulsant drugs may have increased canine pancreas-specific lipase (cPLI) values. Inflammatory conditions and specifically acute pancreatitis are of major concern in these animals. Elevation in C-reactive protein is being associated with inflammatory status in dogs and it has been correlated with the clinical severity of pancreatitis. In the present study, we investigated if there is a correlation between the cPLI increase, changes in C-reactive protein and hepatic enzymes, as well as the incidence of severe acute pancreatitis (AP) in dogs with anticonvulsant treatment (phenobarbital, or potassium bromide or both). Increased values of pancreas-specific lipase were found in 6.8% of the animals in treatment with anticonvulsants, and this increase is correlated with the increase in triglycerides, alkaline phosphatase, and alanine aminotransferase but not with C-reactive protein levels, which suggests a possible induction or release phenomenon rather than a clear severe AP. C-reactive protein levels did not affect cPLI values on the population studied. Only 2 animals had clinical and analytical data suggestive of AP, indicating a low prevalence (0.6%). In conclusion, cPLI may be increased in a low percentage of animals with anticonvulsants treatment and its increase may not be associated with severe AP. It may be induced by the anticonvulsants drugs; however, further studies are advised to rule out other possible causes that increased cPLI.

Cell cannibalism by malignant neoplastic cells: three cases in dogs and a literature review.

Cell cannibalism refers to the engulfment of cells by nonprofessional phagocytic cells. Studies in human medicine have demonstrated a relationship between the presence of cell cannibalism by neoplastic cells and a poor outcome, and have shown a positive correlation with the presence of metastasis at the time of diagnosis. The biologic significance of cell cannibalism is unknown, but it is proposed that it may represent a novel mechanism of tumor immune evasion as a survival strategy in cases of unfavorable microenvironmental conditions. This report describes clinical and morphologic features of 3 cases of dogs with malignant neoplasia in which the presence of cellular cannibalism was observed in cytologic and histologic specimens. In the 1(st) case, a dog with a primary tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma with metastasis to retropharyngeal lymph nodes had neoplastic epithelial cells engulfing neutrophils noted in cytologic examination of the lymph nodes. In the 2(nd) case, neoplastic epithelial cells were seen engulfing each other in fine-needle aspirates from a primary mammary carcinoma with lung metastasis. In the 3(rd) case, poorly differentiated neoplastic mast cells from a recurrent, metastatic grade III mast cell tumor were observed cannibalizing eosinophils. A brief review of the literature describing known cell-into-cell relationships and the possible biologic significance and mechanisms involved in this phenomenon is provided. The relationship between cell cannibalism and distant metastasis should be explored in further studies, as it may prove to be a criterion of malignancy, as it is proposed in human medicine.

Coagulation parameters do not change during luteal phase and pregnancy in cats.

Changes in coagulation parameters depending on reproductive status and pregnancy have been previously reported in both human and other veterinary species. The objective of this study was to determine if different reproductive status affects coagulation parameters in queens. Blood samples from 66 queens submitted to spay surgery were obtained. A hemostatic panel including platelet count, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen concentration, and D-dimer and also progesterone concentrations were measured before surgery. According to progesterone results and embryo vesicles diameter, four groups were established: (1) nonpregnant queens with low (≤1 ng/mL) progesterone concentration (LP) (n = 33); (2) nonpregnant queens with high (≥2 ng/mL) progesterone concentration (n = 8) (HP); (3) first half of pregnancy (n = 12); and (4) second half of pregnancy (n = 13). None of the evaluated parameters showed statistically significant differences among the different groups. There was no significant linear correlation between progesterone values and coagulation parameters. In conclusion, neither the presence of the embryo nor the higher values of progesterone concentration induced statistically significant changes in the coagulation profile studied.