Acute neurologic presentation of a 2-year-old Standardbred colt with
multicentric diffuse large B cell lymphoma
Abstract
Lymphoma in horses is uncommon and rarely diagnosed as the cause of
ataxia in horses. This case report describes a two-year-old Standardbred
cryptorchid colt who presented with acute onset of grade 3.5/5 ataxia.
Due to the severity of the ataxia, a full neurologic examination could
not be completed, and the colt was humanely euthanized. Post-mortem
examination revealed multiple osteochondritis dissecans lesions in the
cervical and lumbar spine. Initially this was thought to be the cause of
the ataxia, however histopathology revealed multifocal areas where the
spinal nerve roots and epidural surface of the dural mater of the
meninges were surrounded or covered by plaques of neoplastic round cells
which infiltrated the adipose tissue surrounding the spinal tissues.
Atypical round cells similar to those observed in the spinal meningeal
tissues were also found in the kidneys, lungs, liver, testes and one
lymph node. Immunohistochemical staining of meningeal tissue samples
revealed moderate to intense cytoplasmic/membranous immunoreactivity for
CD20 and a diagnosis of multicentric diffuse large B cell lymphoma was
made. Lymphoma should be included in the differential diagnoses for a
horse presenting with ataxia and neurologic deficits