College of Veterinary
Medicine and Institute of Equine Medicine, Kyungpook National
University, Daegu city 702-701, Republic of Korea; 1Laboratory
of Biochemistry and Cellular Engineering, Division of NanoBio
Technology, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology,
Daegu 711-873, Republic of Korea; 2Animal, Plant and
Fisheries Quarantine and Inspection Agency, Ministry for Food,
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Anyang, Republic of Korea.
*Corresponding Author: chogj@knu.ac.kr
Abstract
A 9-year old, castrated
male, thoroughbred horse presented for a left lower eyelid mass with ocular
signs of mucopurulent discharge, conjunctival hyperemia and ocular discomfort.
On physical examination, there was no other abnormality. Surgically, the mass
arising from the inner surface of left lower eyelid was excised and examined
histopathologically. Microscopically, the eyelid mass exhibited neoplastic
basaloid cells forming irregular cell masses of variable size separated by thin
fibrous tissues. The basaloid cells showed mildly pleomorphic and
undifferentiated appearances with prominent oval nuclei and scant cytoplasm.
Poorly differentiated meibocytes were observed occasionally in the periphery
regions of the cell masses suggesting the mass of lower eyelid originated from
meibomian glands. Based on histopathological observation, the present case was
diagnosed as an equine meibomian epithelioma in the lower eyelid. To the
author’s knowledge, the present case is the first report of equine meibomian
epithelioma in veterinary literatures.