From:
dr_bruce_williams
Date: 2002-03-19 23:14:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Histology report on cystic kidney
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "jasperand4" <jasperand4@n...> wrote:
> Dr. Williams, When I posted here about the cystic kidney of my 8
month old jill, you said that it might not be a cystic kidney in the
true sense, but a large bag of urine, due to a blockage.
.....
> SAMPLE - right kidney and adjacent fibrous tissue.
>
> DESCRIPTION - macroscopically the tissue appears to be a collapsed
fibrous
> cyst-like structure. Representative sections show parts of a
kidney which
> has a thick fibrous capsule continuous with a linear area of fibrous
> hyperplasia which appears to form the wall of an unlined cyst.
> The kidney has a congested parenchyma and shows interstitial
fibrosis with
> lymphocytic infiltration at the poles and around the renal pelvis.
One of
> the samples contains a dilated tubule which is presumed to be
ureter (it is
> lined with transitional epithelium). This is surrounded with
hyperplastic
> fibrous tissue and there is an area of necrosis, calcification and
early
> pathological ossification in the immediately surrounding tissue.
>
> INTERPRETATION - interpretation is not straight forward, partly
because
> orientation of the histological sections is difficult.
>
> The appearence is of reactive fibrosis closely associated with the
ureter
> and possibly early hydronephrosis. The small area of calcification
may be
> the result of ischaemic necrosis.
Dear Carol:
Much as we had thought going in, this is not a case of a traditional
renal cyst, nor is it a case of polycystic disease.
The gross description of a collapse cyst-like structure suggests that
there is little functional renal tissue left, and that we have at
best a remnant surrounded by that tough renal capsule.
Most telling here is the dilated ureter (the pipe that connects the
kidney to the bladder. This tells us that there is obstruction
downstream, what type apparently was not seen on the slide.
This is pretty classic hydronephrosis, and in ferrets, it usually is
the result of a bacterial urinary tract infection with obstruction of
the ureter by inflammatory debris and scarring.
With kindest regards,
bruce williams, dVM