Diagnosis and management of a case of retroperitoneal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia in a cat

Thieme, Maureen E; Olsen, Anastasia M; Woolcock, Andrew D; Miller, Margaret A; Simons, Micha C

1) and feline coronavirus (FCoV)/feline infectious peritonitis in the development of FGESF, and concluded that 12/13 cats diagnosed with FGESF tested negative for FHV-1 and FCoV, making it unlikely that the viruses contributed to the development of FGESF. 3 Treatment of FGESF typically involves a multimodal approach, including prednisolone at immunosuppressive doses with other immunomodulatory drugs as needed, and surgical resection of the mass, if possible. 1, 3, 5, 7 Despite bacterial involvement in the majority of cases, antibiotics appear to be ineffective and have not been shown to increase survival time. 1 Prognosis is variable depending on the location of the mass (cats with distal lesions tend to have longer survival times than those with pyloric lesions) and the type of treatment instituted. 1 Cats treated with a multimodal approach may live for several years after initial diagnosis. 3, 7 The presented case provides further understanding of the clinical findings of this rare inflammatory condition in cats and describes a unique feature of the disease process. FGESF lesions have been described throughout the gastrointestinal tract and have been found to involve several tissues outside of the gastrointestinal tract, including regional lymph nodes, pancreas and liver. However, in the majority of FGESF cases currently described in the veterinary literature, the primary FGESF lesion consists of an intramural mass.