Dr Fraser Hill (Director of the CityU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and adjunct professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health), together with colleagues from the Equine Hospital of the The Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Animal Health Diagnostic Centre at Cornell University, investigated the cause of chronic inflammation in a clinically normal 5-year-old racing Thoroughbred.

The horse presented with persistent inflammation of unknown origin, diagnosed by sequential blood testing over a 14 week period, and was not responding to treatment. Eventually, transabdominal ultrasound and rectal palpation, and subsequent surgical exploration revealed an invasive abdominal soft tissue mass. This was diagnosed as a large B-cell lymphoma by histopathology and immunohistochemistry.

This led to the conclusion that in cases of unexplained chronic inflammation in a horse neoplasia should be considered as a possible underlying cause.

The full case report was published in Equine Veterinary Education (EVE) and is available here.