Ben Jurgens's research while affiliated with Utrecht University and other places

Case summary A 10-year-old neutered female domestic shorthair cat was presented with an acute onset of neurological signs suggestive of a right-sided forebrain lesion, temporal lobe epilepsy and generalised seizure activity. MRI of the head revealed an expansile soft tissue mass in the caudal nasal passages (both sides but predominantly right-sided) involving the ethmoid bone and extending through the cribriform plate into the cranial vault affecting predominantly the right frontal lobe and temporal lobe. Histopathological examination of the tumour revealed a histiocytic sarcoma. Relevance and novel information This is the first report of a cat with clinical signs of temporal lobe epilepsy due to an invasive, histiocytic sarcoma. Histiocytic sarcoma, although rare, should be included in the list of differential diagnoses for soft tissue masses extending through the cribriform plate. Other differential diagnoses are primary nasal neoplasia (eg, adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, chondrosarcoma and other types of sarcomas), lymphoma and olfactory neuroblastoma. Temporal lobe epilepsy in cats can be the consequence of primary pathology of temporal lobe structures, or it can be a consequence of pathology with an effect on these structures (eg, mass effect or disruption of interconnecting neuronal pathways).

This article describes a case of abortion and placentitis in a mare. Macroscopic and microscopic lesions in the aborted fetus were consistent with a pyogranulomatous inflammation with intralesional fungal structures. These were observed in the lungs, skin, stomach, umbilical cord, peritoneum, fetal membranes and brain. Molecular techniques detected the fungus Exophiala phaeomuriformis from those lesions. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first reported case of abortion in horse due to E. phaeomuriformis.

We describe two clinical cases of diplomyelia with hydromyelia in newborn calves. Both animals presented clinical signs of a general proprioceptive ataxia affecting the pelvic limbs. The most clear finding during clinical examination of the animals was an unilateral (case 1) or bilateral (case 2) absent patellar reflex. Only the second case was serologically tested positive for Schmallenberg virus, which is not a very likely aetiology. The cause of the spinal cord lesions in both calves remains unknown.