Uterine Adenocarcinoma in a Rabbit and Its Intra-abdominal Metastasis Through Myometrium

Abstract

A 7-year and 8-month-old female rabbit presented with severe hemorrhagic discharge from the vulva. An ovariohysterectomy was performed, and then seven large nodules in the uterus and several small nodules on the uterine mesometrium were detected. The uterine nodules were diagnosed as adenocarcinomas, among which three were classified as papillary type and four were classified as tubular/solid type. The small nodules on the mesometrium were also diagnosed as tubular/solid adenocarcinomas, which were suspected to have been due to disseminated metastasis from the uterine myometrium into the mesometrium. The tumor cells of the tubular/solid adenocarcinoma had conspicuously infiltrated the myometrium, and some had invaded the uterine mesometrium. The rabbit suddenly exhibited anorexia and died 5 months after the surgery. Necropsy revealed marked thickening of the greater omentum and numerous small nodules on the intestinal mesometrium where tubular/solid adenocarcinomas were detected.