From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-11-14 22:10:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Cancer of the bile duct?
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Lisa Shortley" <fer8queen@h...>
wrote:
> Hi,
> I was wondering if anyone on here has heard of a ferret who died
from
> cancer of the bile duct? I have not received the pathology report
> from my ferret's necropsy yet (he died Monday morning, necropsy
> prefomred immediately after). She said that she'd never heard of
> this in a ferret but has seen it in cats and dogs.
> >
> Anyway, I had to know what went wrong and couldn't just accept, "it
> might have been cancer". She did his necropsy within 20 minutes of
> his death.
>
> She found that his bile duct (I may have misheard her now that I
> think about it...do ferrets have a "bowel" duct?)...it was
thickened
> and appeared to be full of cancer. She never saw this before and
> sent it out for pathology to confirm.
>
> She also found that his stomach was riddled with ulcers - eaten
clear
> through his stomach wall.
>
> She and the vet she consulted with have never seen bile (or bowel?)
> duct cancer in ferrets and I was wondering if anyone on here has?
> Are his symtoms at time of death conclusive with something like
this?
Dear Lisa:
Let's not jump on cancer of the bile ducts until the report comes
back. While biliary tumors (cholangiocarcinoma and cholangiomas -
malignant and benign respectively) do exist in ferrets, they are
extremely rare. AS a matter of fact, tonight, I am proofing a paper
on liver tumors in ferrets for presentation at the American College
of Vet Pathologist's meeting next month.
Biliary tract neoplasms are exceedingly rare in ferrets - I have 5 in
my collection of 3000 cases - you do the math. In this archive, 1.8%
of cases were neoplasms involving the liver - which is pretty low.
Of these, lymphoma was most common, and metastatic adrenal carcinoma
came in second.
Tumors of the liver rarely show premonitory signs, such as liver
failure. If noticed antemortem, they generally present as a large
mass. Only three primary liver tumors - tumors of either the
hepatocytes (liver cells) or biliary tree- out of 18 in the study
showed evidence of liver failure prior to necropsy. So most are
silent - don't feel as if you missed some big tip-off - there usually
isn't one.
On gross inspection, many tumors look alike, so this is one best left
to the pathologist's microscope. Any chance we took pictures of the
necropsy?
Regarding the ulcers - this might have been the precipitating factor
for your ferret's rapid demise. Ferrets with any systemic illness
may develop ulcers as a result of stress, so the development in this
case is probably to be expected.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM