title: Thalamic astrocytic hamartoma and associated meningoangiomatosis in a German shepherd dog.
abstract: The present paper describes an astrocytic thalamic hamartoma associated with tectal meningoangiomatosis in a 3-month-old female German shepherd dog showing strabismus, opistotonus, circling, and fore limb hypermetria. MR images of the brain showed a well-defined intra-axial mass in the tectal region. The mass was hypointense to gray matter on T2-weighted images and hyperintense to gray matter on precontrast T1-weighted images. Histologically, glial cells arranged in a multinodular pattern characterized the mass. More caudally the lesion merged with subpial abnormal newly formed plaque-like shaped tissue characterized by thick branching bundles of spindle-shaped cells surrounding a central vessel. In the nodules, GFAP and vimentin were diffusely expressed. In the vascular proliferation Factor VIII-positive reaction was limited to endothelial cells while the remaining spindle-shaped cells were diffusely SMA-positive. The glial nodules did not express lysozyme and MAC387, nor neurofilaments and nestin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biopathological Science and Hygiene of Animal and Food Productions, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sebastianelli
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Mandara
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pavone
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Canal
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernardini
mesh_terms: D000798:Angiomatosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D006222:Hamartoma / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000662:veterinary; D008578:Meninges / Q000473:pathology*; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000662:veterinary; D013786:Thalamic Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology