engleski

Gastric adenocarcinoma as cause of death of a captive rock hyrax (Procavia capensis)

The rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) is a medium- sized, terrestrial mammal which lives across Africa and the Middle East. In Croatia, the rock hyrax are found in two zoos. The pathology of these animals has been rarely investigated. So far, pathologic findings have been described in only one report on 111 adult captive rock hyrax from USA. A captive rock hyrax was submitted for necropsy to our Department. No signs of disease were noted during the life of the animal. Necropsy revealed severe, generalized anemia of mucoses and subcutis. The stomach was filled with 500 ml of black mucous, while the mucosa was rough, white and with multiple round ulcerations measuring 1 to 3 mm. Histology of the stomach revealed mucinous gastric adenocarcinoma affecting the mucosa, submucosa and the muscular layer. The intestine was filled with black feces, the intestinal mucosa was unremarkable. On the dorsal lumbosacral part on the back, affecting the skin, subcutis and muscles was focally extensive, acute to subacute purulent Staphylococcus sp.-caused dermatitis. Other organs did not show gross nor microscopic pathologic lesions. Cause of death was determined as gastric adenocarcinoma with subsequent melena and anemia. Pathology of rock hyrax is rarely described. The only paper reporting pathologic findings described neoplasia in ten of investigated animals, and gastric adenocarcinoma was diagnosed in only one animal. The paper suggests that rock hyrax are more resistant to oncogenic events due to low incidence of detected neoplasia. We describe another gastric adenocarcinoma, contributing to the scarce information about these animals.

Gastric adenocarcinoma, rock hyrax

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