CLINICAL COMMUNICATION KLINIESE MEDEDELING

Periaortic haemangiosarcoma in an African wild dog (Lycaon pictus)

A Newell-Fugate^I; E Lane^II

^ISection of Reproduction, Department of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, 0110 South Africa. Present address: Department of Animal Sciences, 380 Animal Sciences Laboratory, University of Illinois, 1207 Gregory Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
^IISenior Researcher, National Zoological Gardens, PO Box 754, Pretoria, 0001 South Africa

ABSTRACT

A 9-year-old apparently healthy male African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) was found dead in its enclosure at the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre. Necropsy revealed a pericardium distended by approximately 250 ml of thick blood. A soft, red, lobulated mass was attached to the periaortic fat between the level of the aortic valves and the pericardial reflection. Histologically, the mass was consistent with a haemangiosarcoma. Other findings in the heart included mild to moderate ventricular hypertrophy and moderate, acute perivascular myocardial necrosis. Sudden death was attributed to acute heart failure precipitated by cardiac tamponade.

Keywords: African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), cardiac tamponade, heart failure, haemangio-sarcoma, pericardium, ventricular hypertrophy

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Received: November 2008
Accepted: May 2009

* Author for correspondence. E-mail: newellf1@uiuc.edu