Page 572 - The Veterinary Laboratory and Field Manual 3rd Edition

Necropsy guidelines 509

• acute hemolytic disease Things to note
• torsion: leading to impaired venous out-
flow. • Adhesions of the capsule to the cortical sur-
face.
• Increase or decrease in size of the kidney:
2 Diffusely firm and meaty: cellular infiltration,
hyperplasia of splenic elements, amyloidosis.
• swollen and ‘wet’ looking kidneys may
indicate acute inflammation or necrosis
• Cellular infiltration:
• small, firm kidneys may indicate chronic
renal injury which has led to atrophy and
• diffuse, infiltrative neoplasia, for exam-
ple, lymphoma, histiocytic sarcoma fibrosis.
• diffuse, infiltrative inflammatory infil-
trates, for example, fungal or protozoal • Areas of reddening or pallor:
infection.
• due to the end-arterial blood supply of the
kidneys infarction of renal blood vessels
• Hyperplasia of reticuloendothelial cells lining
red pulp sinuses: lead to infarction
• renal infarctions tend to be wedge-shape
oriented with the long edge toward the
• chronic sepsis
• chronic hemolytic disease. capsular surface
• acute infarction will be dark red and swol-
len. Chronic infarction will be shrunken
3 Multiple nodules: soft and bloody-nodular
lymphoid hyperplasia, hemangiosarcoma. and pallid.
4 Multiple nodules: firm and meaty-neoplasia
versus granulomatous inflammation. • Mass lesions:

• multiple small masses: embolic bacterial
nephritis versus embolic neoplasia
15 Examining the urogenital tract
• single large mass: primary renal tumour.
• Open the kidneys by incising longitudinally
through the greater curvature to the pelvis. • Expansion of the renal pelvis:
• Peel the capsule off and note if there are any
adhesions of the capsule to the underlying • the renal pelvis should be an almost slit-
kidney. This may indicate acute or chronic like space containing at most a small
inflammation. amount of urine
• Continue to incise down each ureter to the • hydronephrosis: backpressure due to
urinary bladder. obstruction of a ureter will result in cystic
• Open the urinary bladder and continue to dilation of the pelvis which can result in
incise through the trigone down the urethra partial or complete atrophy of the over-
into the vagina (female) or down to the end lying renal tissue
of the penis (male). • pyelonephritis: ascending bacterial infec-
tion.

Vet Lab.indb 509 26/03/2019 10:26