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Adenocarcinoma Cells in the Tracheal Wash of a Dog
History: 13-year-old Cocker, spayed female, having a 6-month history of cough, 2-month history of dyspnea, non responsive to prednisone and antibiotic therapy. Radiographic examination revealed severe alveolar lung pattern, all lung lobes involved. Cytological description:The sediment smears contain numerous tight clusters of neoplastic glandular epithelial cells showing a small amount of deeply basophilic vacuolated cytoplasm, high nucleocytoplasmic ratio, medium-sized round to oval nuclei with clumped chromatin, 1-3 prominent nucleoli, and moderate anisocytosis and anisokaryosis. There is a moderate number of neutrophils and macrophages without evidence of sepsis. Comments: Neoplastic cells in a tracheal wash are a rare finding. It suggests severe involvement of the lung parenchyma with exfoliation of cells in the brochial tree or a bronchogenic origin. This is suggestive of a poor prognosis.
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