Cardiac ganglioneuroma in a juvenile pig

Abstract

A cardiac mass (3 × 5 × 3 cm) was detected at the base between the right auricular wall and right vena cava of a slaughtered 6-month-old female mixed-breed pig during a meat inspection. The tumor comprised infiltrative prominent interweaving fascicles of Schwann cells with Verocay bodies. Moreover, the ganglion cells were scattered or aggregated throughout the neoplastic tissue. The ganglion and Schwann cells had neither cellular atypism nor mitosis. On the basis of the bearing site as well as the morphological and immunohistochemical features, this is the first case of a cardiac ganglioneuroma in a pig.

Fig. 1.

(A) Gross findings in a pig heart with a cardiac ganglioneuroma. A demarcated, solid, homogenous milky white cardiac tumor is located between the right atrium and right vena cava. (Ao, aorta; La, left atrium; Ra, right atrium; S, septum; and Mv, mitral valve; bar=3 cm.) (B) Low magnification of the cardiac ganglioneuroma. The tumor was composed of prominent interweaving fascicles of Schwann cells with infiltrative growth in the auricular wall. Arrows indicate myocardium. (Section stained with H&E, bar=200 µm.) (C) Ganglioneuronal and Schwann cell components of the cardiac ganglioneuroma. Arrows indicate solitary ganglion cells and their aggregations. Interweaving proliferation of Schwann cells can be observed in the center. (H&E staining, bar=100 µm.) (D) Antoni A pattern proliferation of Schwann cells. Verocay bodies (arrows) can be observed in the higher-cellularity area of Schwann cells. (H&E staining, bar=100 µm.) (E) Mature ganglion cells with cytoplasmic Nissl substance. (Cresyl violet staining, bar=20 µm.) (F) Immunohistochemistry of class III β-tubulin. Ganglion cells are strongly positive. (Bar=100 µm.) (G) Immunohistochemistry of GFAP. Schwann and ganglion cells (arrow) are positive and negative, respectively. (Bar=50 µm.)