Small-intestinal adenocarcinoma in cattle

Abstract

Sir. - Carcinoma/adenocarcinoma of the small intestine (ASI) is thought to be rare in domestic animals. (4) (5) (12) although Head II) noted that in some geographical locations it may occur frequently in sheep and cattle. In New Zealand the prevalence of ASI in sheep is very high. (7) (9) The equivalent lesion was not reported in a review of 372 diagnoses of cattle tumours examined at the Ruakura Animal Health Laboratory during the period 1955 to 1968. (8) Two cases of adenocarcinoma of the rectum were noted and site of origin was not determined for 34 metastatic adenocarcinomas. Recently however. Johnstone et al ll ) described 6 cases of ASI examined at the veterinary school of Massey University. They noted that the lesions bore a similarity to ASI in sheep and suggested that carcinomas of the bovine intestine, like those in sheep and man, (11) may have a higher prevalence rate in New Zealand than in most other countries.