Primary epicardial haemangiosarcoma in a dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius)

Abstract

A primary epicardial haemangiosarcoma (HSA) was identified in a 5-year-old female camel. Grossly the epicardium was completely covered by a thin fatty layer, over which multiple, cauliflower like, unencapsulated, soft, friable, haemorrhagic tumour outgrowths were attached. The pericardial cavity contained large amount of haemorrhagic effusion along with some fragments of neoplastic tissue. The impression smear of neoplastic tissue revealed pleomorphic, elongated, oval to spindle shaped tumour cells with hyperchromatic nuclei and moderately basophilic cytoplasm with vacuolations. The cytology smear from pericardial effusion revealed presence of large number of hypersegmented neutrophils (75%), few scattered neoplastic cells (20%) and lymphocytes (5%). The histopathology of tumour showed rich vascular tissue with unencapsulated and infiltrative tumour growth and haemorrhages. The argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) count was found significantly more (P< 0.01) in cytology smear than histology section prepared from tumour tissue.