Malignant Hepatoma in the White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Osceola)

Abstract

Malignant hepatoma (liver-cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma) appears to be a rare neoplasm in deer on this continent. Among the domestic animals, Feldman and Jackson have noted its occurrence in dogs, sheep, and cattle, and Norris found the tumor in a fowl (rooster). Fox reported two examples in parakeets, but he discovered none in captive wild mammals. The instances of this tumor in deer published in the foreign literature are summarized by Krause, who added eight cases to the seven previous reports, all occurring in roe deer. The present report concerns a malignant hepatoma in a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus osceola). The animal was a nine-year-old adult female, born in the New York Zoological Park, June 8, 1930. She had been in poor condition for a short time before death, July 13, 1939. At autopsy (No. Z-697), in addition to the liver tumor (Fig. 1), there was found an enlarged lobular right adrenal gland, but no other metastasis. The uterus, the size of a three-month pregnancy, contained a macerated fetus, evidently dead for some time. There was no evidence of parasitic infestation. The liver weighed 1,450 grams and was of the usual shape. The tumor, which measured 18 × 14 × 14 cm., occupied approximately two-thirds of the organ, involving its central portion and the entire right lobe, leaving only a small part of the left lobe which presented a smooth surface. The surface of the tumor was lobulated, grayish white to yellow in color, with several blue-red hemorrhagic areas. The cut surface showed radiating thick strands of whitish gray and yellow tumor tissue, between which were large white and gray necrotic areas and other smaller cystic areas containing sanguineous fluid. Near the center of the mass the cysts measured up to 3 cm. in diameter. The junction of the tumor with the normal liver was sharply demarcated.