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Older companion animals may be uncommonly affected with hepatobiliary neoplasia. If clinical signs are shown they are often nonspecific. Animals may have increased liver enzyme activities detected on serum biochemistry. Ultrasound imaging can help to characterize liver lesions and guide sampling with fine needle aspiration. Treatment for massive liver tumor morphology involves liver lobectomy. Prognosis depends on the tumor morphology, type, and stage, but can be good for cats and dogs with massive hepatocellular tumors, with animals experiencing prolonged survival and low recurrence rates., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Medical records were reviewed of 24 dogs and four cats that underwent cholecystoduodenostomy to relieve extrahepatic biliary obstruction. These procedures had been performed using a 30-mm endoscopic gastrointestinal anastomosis stapler. At presentation, most animals had clinical signs of vomiting and anorexia, and total bilirubin was elevated in both dogs (n=21) and cats (n=4). Pancreatitis (n=13), cholangiohepatitis (n=7), and neoplasia (n=6) were the most common underlying conditions. Sixteen dogs and two cats survived to their 2-week reevaluation. The most common cause of death was euthanasia (n=9) secondary to neoplasia (n=4), peritonitis (n=3), or respiratory arrest (n=2).

The medical records of 41 dogs and four cats with either surgical or postmortem confirmation of extrahepatic biliary tract obstruction were reviewed. Clinical signs of icterus, vomiting, anorexia, or a combination of these signs were exhibited by 100% of cases. Elevated serum bilirubin was documented in 37 of 41 dogs and two of four cats (86.6%). The predominant, underlying, pathological process was extraluminal obstruction of the biliary tract due to pancreatitis (19 of 45 cases; 42.2%) or neoplasia (11 of 45 cases; 24.4%). Biliary tract surgery was performed in 29 cases, of which 12 (41.3%) recovered. Animals diagnosed with extrahepatic biliary tract obstruction had a relatively good long-term prognosis, provided they were not compromised substantially due to severe necrotizing pancreatitis or neoplasia.

A retrospective study of abstracted data representing 1.1 million hospital examinations of dogs at veterinary university teaching facilities identified 77 with bile duct carcinoma. Using the hospital population, based on patient years at risk, as the expected frequency of particular zoographic characteristics, there was a suggestion of a familial (breed) predisposition in Labrador retrievers and limited evidence of a sex differential. Because mongrel dogs displayed about the same frequency of bile duct cancer as all breeds combined, other causal factors, besides genetics, are implied. A possible association was detected between canine cholangiocarcinoma and host infection by canine hookworms and/or whipworms. Human infection from hookworms (Necator americanus) and whipworms (Trichuris trichiura) is common in the southern rural areas of the U.S.A. (e.g. Appalachia), and tropical and sub-tropical countries of Africa, Central and South America, where there have been unexplained high rates reported for human biliary cancer. It is possible that the presence of these blood-letting nematodes, like a number of other parasites (ascarids, flukes and protozoa), may be related to the occurrence of human cholangiocarcinoma.