TRACHEAL AND LARYNGEAL TUMORS IN TWO DOMESTIC RABBITS (ORYTOLAGUS CUNICULUS)

摘要

Dyspnea is a very common clinical finding in rabbits and is often associated with infection of the respiratory tract or cranial mediastinal tumors. Airway obstruction as a cause of dyspnea has been very rarely reported to date. Here, 2 cases of airway tumors in a 4-year old and 4.5-year old rabbit, respectively, are described. Clinically, airway tumors of both patients were associated with progressive dyspnea that was initially considered to be caused by bacterial upper airway obstruction; however antimicrobial treatment was unrewarding. In case 1, a radiographic and computed tomographic examination revealed an intraluminal soft tissue-opaque mass in the thoracic trachea at the level of the first and second thoracic vertebrae. Surgical excision was considered to be difficult due to the intrathoracic location and the owner elected for humane euthanasia. A subsequent histopathological examination of the tracheal mass revealed that the mass was located in the tunica mucosa and exophytically protruded into the tracheal lumen. Immunohistochemically, tumors cells were positive for cytokeratin and negative for vimentin, which supports the histopathologic diagnosis of a tracheal adenocarcinoma. In case 2, clinical examination and thoracic radiography did not reveal an airway obstruction. Postmortem examination identified a laryngeal osteochondroma largely obstructing the laryngeal lumen. Both, laryngeal and tracheal neoplasia, should be considered as an uncommon cause of progressive dyspnea that is nonresponsive to antimicrobial treatment. Besides radiography and computed tomography, the authors recommend endoscopy as an ideal diagnostic tool to identify airway obstruction. Copyright 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.