Today’s case is a 10 year old male neutered Cocker Spaniel with progressive anemia that has dropped to 15%.
Case originally posted on April 20, 2007
Teaching and learning about veterinary diagnostic imaging.
Today’s case is a 10 year old male neutered Cocker Spaniel with progressive anemia that has dropped to 15%.
There are two masses in the abdomen. The first is visible on the lateral and v/d between the left kidney and the fundus of the stomach. The second is in the caudoventral portion of the abdoman and is only visible on the lateral projection.
The dorsal mass is in the location of the proximal extremity of the spleen, and the distal mass is in the location of the distal extremity. The more dorsal mass is causing a mass effect and displacing the left kidney caudally (compare to right kidney).
There are diffuse soft-tissue opacity nodules throughout the lungs, indicating metastatic disease.
Splenic masses – neoplasia, hematoma, abscess, granuloma
Multiple splenic tumors – hemangiosarcoma with metastatic disease to the lungs.
The location of the masses are key to identifying splenic origin. The presence of nodules on the edge of the abdominal films should prompt you to take thoracic radiographs. Metastatic disease places neoplasia at the top of the list of differential diagnoses. The anemia could have been caused by hemorrhage, RBC destruction in the spleen, or anemia of chronic disease. There was no evidence of effusion on these radiographs.
Case originally posted on April 20, 2007
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