Published in Scientific Works. Series C. Veterinary Medicine, Vol. 19 ISSUE 4
Written by Iulia PARASCHIV, Laurentiu TUDOR, Manuella MILITARU
Introduction: Budgerigars are submitted to several pathologies, including neoplasia. Cytopathologic examination is quick, easy and with minimal risk for the pacient and psittacines can be candidates for this diagnostic technique. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relevance of the cytopathologic diagnosis on fibrosarcomas in budgerigars. Materials and methods: 3 cases of Melopsittacus undulatus were submitted to multiple cytopathological examinations at the Department of Pathological Anatomy of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Bucharest during November 2011 - July 2012. The cases were also submitted to histopathologic examination and confirmed the diagnosis of fibrosarcoma. 10 high-power fields were examined in each of the several smears obtained by fine needle aspiration technique. The categories of cells numbered are: neoplastic cells, erythrocytes, inflammatory and a category of smashed cells and nude nuclei and numbers were afterwards turned into percentages. Results and conclusion: Neoplastic cells were identified with a medium percentage of 17.57%, while inflammatory cells were 2.98%, erythrocytes, 57.65% and smashed cells, 21.80%. The diagnosis of malignancy was made with extreme caution due to the low number of mesenchymal cells, but it was also taken into consideration the high percentage of pollutant erythrocytes. Based on the malignancy cellular features, the neoplastic cells presented anisocytosis, pleomorphism, increased nucleus:citoplasm ratio and coarse chromatin pattern. Additional, case 2 presented frequent macrocytosis, macrokaryosis (40.38%), multinucleation and visible, abnormal nucleoli (1-4) were encountered. Rare, abnormal mitosis were identified. As a conclusion, cytopathologic diagnosis of fibrosarcomas in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) can be challenging based on the risk of pollutant erythrocytes, but, ignored, the smears offer multiple cellular malignancy features that plead for fibrosarcoma
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