Duodenal peripapillary adenocarcinoma causing extrahepatic biliary obstruction and icterus in a cat

Abstract

A six-year-old, female, neutered domestic shorthair cat was presented with chronic weight loss and a two-day history of partial anorexia and lethargy. Abdominal ultrasonography revealed a regional thickening of the duodenal wall with loss of normal layering, a normally walled segmentally dilated distal aspect of the common bile duct containing slightly hyperechoic bile, and a mild to moderately enlarged major duodenal papilla. Based on the ultrasound examination, the primary differential diagnosis was a peripapillary duodenal neoplastic or less likely, an inflammatory or infectious process with secondary extrahepatic biliary obstruction. Postmortem examination revealed a duodenal, peripapillary adenocarcinoma with metastasis into the liver and lymph nodes, and external compressive obstruction of cystic- and common bile duct.