Feline post-traumatic sarcoma
Morgan Matthews, DVM, DACVP
An entire globe from an 8-year-old cat was submitted to the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL). The patient had a history of bilateral glaucoma, but the left eye recently became ulcerated, so enucleation was elected.
On histopathology, lining the interior aspect of the globe and completely disrupting intraocular structures was a spindle cell neoplasm. The neoplasm infiltrated the posterior aspect of the cornea and ruptured the Descemet’s membrane. The vitreous chamber contained eosinophilic lens material mixed with fibrin and neutrophils. The appearance and distribution of this mass was consistent with the spindle cell variant of feline post-traumatic ocular sarcoma.
Feline post-traumatic ocular sarcoma is a neoplastic entity associated with previous trauma and lens rupture. The cell origin of the spindle-cell variant is the lens epithelial cell. The major feature of this neoplasm that aids in diagnosis is the propensity to line the interior aspect of the eye. This tumor can be locally aggressive with invasion into the optic nerve and extension into the brain. Feline post-traumatic sarcoma has two other morphologic variants including round cell and osteosarcoma and/or chondrosarcoma.