Uterine Adenocarcinoma in pet rabbits: a review

• Autor(a) principal: e Silva, Carolina Salgueiro Costa
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/16794
• topic: Rabbit; Female; Uterine adenocarcinoma; Tumour; Coelha; Fêmea; Adenocarcinoma uterino; Tumor

The uterine adenocarcinoma is a slow growing malignant tumour that affects 50-80% of pet rabbits over 4 years old, having age as its major risk factor. The mechanisms underlying the development of this tumour are not completely understood and some of the existing studies presented contradictory results. In fact, in rabbits there is not an adequate classification of these tumours and until now the cellular and molecular features were not fully investigated. Regarding treatment and until today, ovariohysterectomy is the only effective treatment. Without it, this neoplasia leads to the female rabbit’s death within 1 to 2 years after the appearance of symptoms and metastasis. In spite of the fact that these tumours could in other species be treated by chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal therapy, in rabbits these treatments were mainly used in laboratory animals and therefore, there is no data regarding the adequate protocol. The limited studies available and the existing doubts around the development of the uterine adenocarcinoma in rabbits show that further investigation is necessary to provide other ways to make an accurate diagnosis, to establish an adequate treatment protocol and to determine the prognosis.