Renal and cardiac metastases of Jaagsiekte-like tumour in a goat

Abstract

A late-pregnant goat, of about 3 years, had acute death after being chased about in a pen to be caught for medicine administration. The goat had a history of signs of heart failure and respiratory distress. It suffered progressive weight loss for the last month but its appetite for food was good. Postmortem examination revealed that both lungs were dispersed with solid, grey to light purple shiny translucent circular adenomatous masses. The masses had different sizes and some are buried inside the lung tissue. Lung tissue surrounding the tumour looked normal. Mediastinal lymph nodes were swollen. Similar lesions were found in the myocardium of the left ventricle of the heart and in the right kidney's cortex. The left kidney was free. Histological examination of the tumour in the lungs showed alveolar hyperplasia and areas of tissues, where cuboidal or columnar cells replaced the normal flat alveolar cells. The abnormal cells form papilliform growths, which project into the alveoli. Similar lesions were seen in the metastases of the heart and the kidney. These lesions were consistent with those described for Jaagsiekte disease of sheep. This is the first report of natural pulmonary adenomatosis (Jaagsiekte disease) in a goat in Saudi Arabia, in which the lesion metasized to the kidney and the heart.