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Case Reports
. 2021 May 14;8(5):86.
doi: 10.3390/vetsci8050086.

A First Case Report of Orbital Extra-Adrenal Paraganglioma in Cat

Leonardo Leonardi  1 , Raluca Ioana Rizac  2 , Ilaria Pettinari  1 , Luca Mechelli  1 , Carlo De Feo  3
Affiliations
Case Reports

A First Case Report of Orbital Extra-Adrenal Paraganglioma in Cat

Leonardo Leonardi et al. Vet Sci. .

Abstract

Paraganglioma is a rare neuroendocrine neoplasm originating from paraganglia and consisting of neuroendocrine cells of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Extra-adrenal paraganglioma occurs with a low incidence in both humans and animals. This report presents the first case of paraganglioma in a cat with orbital primary location. An 18-year-old spayed female European domestic shorthair cat of 3.60 kg body weight was evaluated in a private veterinary clinic in Perugia, Italy, for a pronounced exophthalmos of the right eye. The cat underwent surgery for the enucleation of the right eye and of the mass. The biopsy samples of the removed tissue were fixed in 10% buffered neutral formalin for histological and immunohistochemical evaluations. Therefore, specific markers were used for immunohistochemical investigations, such as anti-neuron specific enolase (NSE), anti-synaptophysin, anti-glial fibrillary acid protein, anti-cytokeratin and anti-chromogranin. The results of these investigations allowed establishing the final diagnosis of ocular extra-adrenal paraganglioma of the cat.

Keywords: cancer; cat; extra-adrenal; orbital; paraganglioma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Gross evidence of the mass (exophthalmos) before surgery (A). Enucleation of the right ocular globe during the surgery (B). Gross evidences of the primitive multilobular mass before the total surgical excision (C,D).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Paraganglioma histopathological features. Typical structural pattern of paraganglioma organized in packs, nests and bundles of spindle cells supported by fibrovascular stroma. Hematoxylin-Eosin stain, magnification of 4× (A), 10× (B), 20× (C,D).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Paraganglioma features for immunohistochemical markers. (A) Anti-synaptophysin. (B) Anti-Chromogranin. Anti-NSE. (C) Anti-NSE (D) Anti-Cytocheratins. (A) (magnification 10×), (B,C) (magnification 20×) figures show a diffuse cytoplasmic immunostaining marking of neoplastic cells of paraganglioma. (D) (40× magnification) anti-cytokeratin stain shows a very mild and focal positivity (negative) stain. Immunoperoxidase.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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