Neuroendocrine pulmonary small cell carcinoma in a dog. A case report.

The described case involves a German shepherd dog, 11-year-old, with a pulmonary tumour. Morphological and biochemical tests were performed on various blood parameters, and USG examinations of abdominal cavity and chest were carried out, as well as an X-ray examination of the chest. The fluid from pleural cavities was subjected to tests of physical, morphological, and biochemical properties, and to microbiological and cytological examinations. Due to the advanced age of the animal, increasingly severe morbid signs and unfavourable prognosis, the owner of the dog decided to ask for its euthanasia. Macroscopic examination of the pulmonary tissue disclosed neoplastic hyperplasia, involving the left adcephalic lobe and infiltrating the region of the pulmonary hilus. A small-cell carcinoma was diagnosed histopathologically and the diagnosis was confirmed by immunohistochemical examination. As a rule, it rapidly metastasises and bound to a poor-prognosis cancer, but in this case, the carcinoma manifested the rarely-observed limited form, and failed to produce metastases despite histological exponents of its malignant character.