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Case Reports
. 2024 Oct;14(10):2700-2706.
doi: 10.5455/OVJ.2024.v14.i10.20. Epub 2024 Oct 31.

Therapeutic effect of nimustine in a dog with intracranial histiocytic sarcoma

Michihito Tagawa  1 , Takamasa Itoi  1 , Ryohei Yoshitake  1 , Kenji Kutara  1 , Natsuki Akashi  1 , Ikki Mitsui  1 , Yasuhiko Okamura  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Therapeutic effect of nimustine in a dog with intracranial histiocytic sarcoma

Michihito Tagawa et al. Open Vet J. 2024 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Intracranial histiocytic sarcoma (HS) is uncommon in dogs, and no standard treatment has yet been defined for this disease. Herein, we describe a case of intracranial HS that responded favorably to nimustine treatment.

Case description: A 9-year-old, castrated Welsh Corgi Pembroke presented with a 2-month history of quadriplegia. Intracranial disease was suspected on neurological examination, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a contrast-enhanced mass in the left frontal lobe. Following tissue biopsy, the patient received intravenous nimustine (ACNU) treatment. The patient's neurological symptoms partially improved, and a reduction in tumor volume was observed on MRI on day 99. After three administrations of ACNU, tumor regrowth was confirmed on day 124, and temozolomide was subsequently administered. The patient subsequently showed no major changes in clinical symptoms, but subsequently died suddenly on day 195.

Conclusion: In this case, administration of ACNU provided temporary symptom improvement and tumor reduction. Therefore, ACNU monotherapy may be a therapeutic option for canine intracranial HS.

Keywords: ACNU; Canine; Chemotherapy; Magnetic resonance imaging.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.. Postcontrast transverse (A, D, G), dorsal (B, E, H), and sagittal (C, F, I) T1WI of the case. Each image revealed a solid mass in the left frontal lobe.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.. Postcontrast transverse (A) and dorsal (B) T1WI of the case on day 27. No major changes in the size of the contrastenhanced tumor after surgery were observed.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.. Histological and immunohistochemical characteristics of the cerebral tumor. A: Low magnification of the biopsied tissue. The lesion comprises a dense sheet of neoplastic round cells, as observed on hematoxylin and eosin (HE) stain. Bar = 500 μm. B: The tumor cells have abundant, pale, lacy cytoplasm, round to ovoid hypochromic nucleus with moderate anisokaryosis, and 1 or 2 prominent nucleoli. HE staining. Bar = 50 μm. C: The tumor cells show a membranous as well as cytoplasmic positive reaction to Iba-1 antibody. Immunohistochemistry (IHC). Bar = 50 μm. D: The tumor cells show a cytoplasmic positive reaction to Vimentin antibody. Immunohistochemistry. Bar = 50 μm.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.. MR images of the case at the level of thalamus on day 99. The entire right cerebral hemisphere and part of the thalamus showed a high signal on (A) T2-weighted and (B) FLAIR images, a high signal on (C) DWI images, and an equal signal on (D) ADC-map.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.. MR images of the case on day 124. Re-enlargement of the lesion was observed on (A) T2-weighted, (B) T1-weighted, and (C) FLAIR images.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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