Pseudo-syndrome de veine cave crâniale associé à un mésothéliome thoracique chez un lévrier

An 11-years-old male, Sloughi greyhound was presented to the clinic with a 1-month history of tachypnea and cough and a swelling of the neck for one day. On physical examination, the breathing was disharmonious, heart sounds were muffled and oedema of the neck was noted. The thoracic exploration by x-ray, by ultrasonography and by thoracotomy ensured, after biopsy, to conclude a diagnosis of scattered pleural mesothelioma; this tumour was responsible for pleural effusion and for “pseudocranial vena cava syndrome”. Palliative treatment was performed but the dog was euthanatized two months later. The case report shows an original clinical presentation of a cranial vena cava syndrome, which is often encountered in clinics but which has to focus on a thoracic disease; moreover, it shows that make a diagnosis of mesothelioma is difficult in the dog and the need for it to resort to immunohistochemic markers; it focuses on the low efficiency of available treatment and the guarded prognosis of this tumour.