Surgical Treatment for the Nasopharyngeal Polyp in a Young Cat with Clinical Signs of Respiratory Disturbance and Horner’s Syndrome

Abstract

An 18 month-old cat presented with sneezing, nasal congestion, nasal discharge and clinical signs of Horner’s syndrome. There was no improvement following medical treatment. A nasopharyngeal polyp was seen originating from the right tympanic bulla on a CT image. Resection of the polyp via soft-palate incision resolved the respiratory clinical signs, but the neurological signs remained. Based on MRI findings, inflammatory tissue was removed from the right tympanic bulla via ventral osteotomy one month after the first surgery. No further clinical signs were noted and many neurological signs were improved following surgery. The tissues resected from these surgeries were histologically diagnosed as an inflammatory polyp. The present case suggests that inflammatory polyps involving the bulla and nasopharynx may cause Horner’s syndrome and upper respiratory disturbance in cats, possibly requiring surgery at both sites. A sample for a PCR test, obtained from the nasopharyngeal area sixteen months following surgery, was positive for Mycoplasma felis, but it was not concluded that Feline mycoplasma infection caused the inflammatory nasopharyngeal polyp in the cat.