Diagnostics

Image 1

On Tuesday 7 September 2010, Tessa was admitted for thoracic radiographs in the radiology department at the Veterinary Specialist Group. Ventral dorsal and left lateral radiographs were taken (see image 1 and 2). It was recorded that a large mass lesion was associated with the caudal left thoracic wall. It was also noted that it appeared to originate from the 11^th rib and is around 12cm in diameter. There was no obvious nodular pathology within the pulmonary lung fields (Warman, 2010).

Image 2

While the patient was admitted for radiographs, some other diagnostic tests were completed. These included, a complete blood count and biochemistry panel which were sent off to Gribbles Laboratory for observation (see results below). A packed cell volume and an in house Vetscan reading were also taken. The packed cell volume result was 48% and the Vetscan results were as follows:

Tuesday 7 September – Vetscan (In house)
Specifics	Reading	Reference Range
ALB	35 g/L	25-44
ALP	44 U/L	20-150
ALT	29 U/L	10-118
AMY	525 U/L	200-1200
TBIL	3 umol/L	2-10
BUN	4.4 mmol/L	2.5-8.9
CA	2.71 mmol/L	2.15-2.95
PHOS	1.25 mmol/L	0.94-2.13
CRE	61 umol/L	27-124
GLU	5.3 mmol/L	3.3-6.1
NA+	151 mmol/L	138-160
K+	4.0 mmol/L	3.7-5.8
TP	64 g/L	54-82
GLOB	29 g/L	23-52

On the Vetscan results, it was stated that the quality control was ok and lipaemia reading was at 1+, however haemolysis and ictarus readings were both 0.

The results for the complete blood count and biochemistry panel are as follows:

Tuesday 7 September – Complete blood count (Gribbles)
Specifics	Reading	Reference Range
RBC	6.53x1012/L	5.5-8.2
HB	149 g/L	120-180
HCT	0.44 L/L	0.37-0.55
MCV	67 FL	60-78
MCH	23 PG	20-25
MCHC	342 g/L	310-360
PLAT	276x109 /L	200-500
WBC	9.8x109 /L	6-15
NEUT	81%
NEUTAB	7.9x109 /L	3.6-11.5
LYMPH	13%
LYMPHAB	1.3x109 /L	1-4.8
MONO	4%
MONOAB	0.4x109 /L	0.2-1.5
EOSIN	2%
EOSINAB	0.2x109 /L	0.1-1.5
WBCRAW	9.78x109 /L	6-17

On the copy of the complete blood count results, it was stated that the red cell, leukocyte and 

platelet morphology all appeared normal.

Tuesday 7 September – Biochemistry Panel (Gribbles)
Specifics	Reading	Range
ALB	35 g/L	25-44
ALP	44 U/L	20-150
ALT	29 U/L	10-118
AMY	525 U/L	200-1200
TBIL	3 umol/L	2-10
BUN	4.4 mmol/L	2.5-8.9
CA	2.71 mmol/L	2.15-2.95
PHOS	1.25mmol/L	0.94-2.13
CRE	61 umol/L	27-124
GLU	5.3 mmol/L	3.3-6.1
NA+	151 mmol/”	138-160
K+	4.0 mmol/L	3.7-5.8
TP	64 g/L	54-82
GLOB	29 g/L	23-52

On the copy of the biochemistry panel results, it was stated that the quality control was ok and lipaemia reading was at 1+, however haemolysis and ictarus readings were both 0.

Image 3

Image 4

Following the surgical procedure, a left lateral radiograph was taken to ensure that the chest drain and chest tube were placed correctly during the surgical procedure (see image 3). The mass was sent away to Gribbles Laboratories on Monday 13 September 2010 to get the histopathology tested. On Thursday 16 September 2010, the results were returned. The gross examination stated that the mass was 110mm in diameter (see image 4 and 5) and was a multinodular firm white-yellow encapsulated mass. It was noted that multiple margins were examined and that all the tissue margins that were submitted were similar and composed or irregular multinodular proliferations of cells with lacunar which are surrounded by a light

Image 5

basophilic matrix. Centrally there were large areas of haemorrhage and necrosis. Therefore, the morphologic diagnosis was defined as a chondrosarcoma with necrosis and haemorrhage. A comment was also made that the neoplastic cells do not extend to the surgical margins of the tissue that was submitted and also that chondrosarcomas are locally invasive and metastasis to the lungs are less common and would only occur over a longer interval of time (Gribbles Laboratories, 2010).