Observations on a heifer with cutaneous lymphosarcoma

Cutaneous lesions are exceedingly rare in cattle with lymphosarcoma in the United States. Such cases are of particular interest because of a widely held belief, on epidemiologic grounds, that the etiology and pathogenesis of “skin leucosis” differs from the more typical adult form of the disease. Except for cutaneous lesions, a 20-month-old grade Holstein heifer originating on a Pennsylvania farm showed the clinical configuration, pathological alterations and laboratory findings commonly observed in cattle with generalized lymphosarcoma. It is, therefore, difficult to accept the view that the etiology and pathogenesis of lymphosarcoma in this animal with skin manifestations (one of many possible expressions of the disease) was fundamentally different from other forms of lymphosarcoma.