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1 December 2008 Pheochromocytoma in an African Warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus)
Gretchen Cole, WmKirk Suedmeyer, Gayle Johnson
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Abstract

A 14-yr-old male African warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus) with a chronic history of intermittent unilateral epistaxis, degenerative osteoarthritis, and intermittent weakness in the distal lumbar trunk was evaluated to determine the source of epistaxis. No obvious cause was determined, and in light of severe osteoarthritis and a holosystolic cardiac murmur, the animal was euthanized. A tumor of the right adrenal gland involving the medulla was found at gross necropsy. Immunohistochemical staining of the tumor was positive for chromogranin and negative for neurofilament protein, which was diagnostic for pheochromocytoma. No lesions were observed in either nasal cavity. Systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressures measured at the time of immobilization were elevated when compared with another African warthog immobilized with a similar anesthetic regimen. Additionally, the warthog had pronounced serum norepinephrine dominance with a norepinephrine:epinephrine ratio of 10.0, compared with 0.36 from clinically normal warthogs. Practitioners should consider pheochromocytoma when evaluating warthogs or swine for epistaxis.

Gretchen Cole, WmKirk Suedmeyer, and Gayle Johnson "Pheochromocytoma in an African Warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus)," Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 39(4), 663-666, (1 December 2008). https://doi.org/10.1638/2008-0009.1
Received: 10 January 2008; Published: 1 December 2008
KEYWORDS
African warthog
epinephrine
norepinephrine
Phacochoerus aethiopicus
pheochromocytoma
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