Intramedullary Hemangioblastoma in the Cervical Spinal Cord of a Dog

Kiyotaka Arai, Haruto Kushige, Osamu Sakai, Ryohei Yoshitake, Kenji Kutara, Keisuke Sugimoto, Natsuki Akashi, Shinichi Nakamura, Akihiko Sugiyama

A 9-year-old neutered male French bulldog presented with gradually progressive tetraparesis. Neurological examination revealed reduced postural reactions in the pelvic limbs and right thoracic limb. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a 0.9-cm intramedullary mass at the level of the C6 vertebra. The mass was surgically removed via dorsal laminectomy and dorsal midline myelotomy. Histopathological analysis confirmed a hemangioblastoma composed of capillaries and stromal cells. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the capillaries were labeled with Factor VIII-related antigen. Stromal cells were labeled with neuron-specific enolase but were not labeled with neurofilaments. Entrapped axons and neurons labeled with neurofilaments were observed within the tumor. This report presents the first case of an intramedullary hemangioblastoma in the cervical spinal cord and provides clinical and pathological insights into hemangioblastomas in dogs.