Mucinous Cystadenoma in the Lung of a Captive-born Moustached Tamarin (Saguinus mystax)

Abstract

A 2-year-old, captive-born, male moustached tamarin was subjected to necropsy examination after a fatal head trauma. A solitary, circumscribed, subpleural mass (0.6 cm diameter) was found in the right caudal lung lobe. The mass was diagnosed as a mucinous cystadenoma. Histochemical and immunohistochemical tests were performed to further characterize the tumour. Surfactant proteins A, B, C and D were not found in the neoplastic cells, suggesting that the tumour arose from a non-surfactant-producing alveolar lining cell. Pulmonary mucinous cystadenomas are uncommon benign tumours in man and have not been reported previously in animals.