title: Feline gastrointestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia.
abstract: A retrospective study of cases of a unique intramural inflammatory mass within the feline gastrointestinal tract was performed in order to describe and characterize the lesion. Twenty-five cases were identified from archival surgical and postmortem tissues. The lesion most often occurred as an ulcerated intramural mass at the pyloric sphincter (n = 12) or the ileocecocolic junction or colon (n = 9); the remaining cases were in the small intestine. Seven cases also had lymph node involvement. The lesions were characterized by eosinophilic inflammation, large reactive fibroblasts, and trabeculae of dense collagen. Intralesional bacteria were identified in 56% of the cases overall and all of the ileocecocolic junction and colon lesions. Fifty-eight percent of cats tested had peripheral eosinophilia. Cats treated with prednisone had a significantly longer survival time than those receiving other treatments. We propose that this is a unique fibroblastic response of the feline gastrointestinal tract to eosinophilic inflammation that in some cases is associated with bacteria. The lesion is often grossly and sometimes histologically mistaken for neoplasia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology, University of Tennessee, College of Veterinary Medicine, Knoxville, TN 37996-4542, USA. linden@utk.edu
authors.forename: L E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Hardam
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Hertzke
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Flatland
authors.forename: B W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Rohrbach
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Moore
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D002415:Cats; D004802:Eosinophilia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000662:veterinary; D011241:Prednisone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D011241:Prednisone