Intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia in the lungs of a wild Korean raccoon dog

Abstract

A male Korean raccoon dog of unknown age was rescued and placed at the Daejeon Wildlife Rescue Center, Korea. Physical examination revealed severe emaciation and dehydration, as well as thick crusts and alopecia over most of the body. During medical care, the animal died and was submitted for postmortem examination. Firm, brown-red lesions of various sizes were observed on the surface of the lungs. In cross-sections of the lungs, pulmonary vessels were thickened and dilated, with white irregular papillary luminal projections. Histologically, pulmonary blood vessels were severely hyperplastic, characterized by thickened dilated walls and fibrous papillary projections covered with a single layer of endothelial cells (ECs). Hyperplastic fibrous connective tissue was confirmed by Masson trichrome staining. The ECs expressed CD31. We diagnosed the lesion as intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia, a unique non-neoplastic reactive process that has not been reported previously in pulmonary vessels of canids, equids, or felids, to our knowledge.