Pericardial ectopic liver in a cat

Abstract

An aged domestic shorthaired cat was presented for examination because of a six week history of weight loss, diarrhoea and increased appetite. Clinical examination revealed the cat to be emaciated, icteric and the liver was enlarged. Laboratory tests confirmed the presence of hepatic disease and radiographic examination showed hepatomegaly and ascites together with an enlarged globular heart. Ultrasonography showed a heart of normal size surrounded by tissue and/or fluid within the pericardial sac.

Following euthanasia, necropsy revealed the presence of ectopic hepatic tissue within the pericardial sac. Both normally positioned liver and the intrapericardial hepatic tissue showed chronic active pericholangitis and nodular hyperplasia. There was no evidence of a diaphragmatic peritoneal-pericardial hernia, but the intrapericardial mass was connected to the liver by a thin cord of tissue ventral to the caudal vena cava.