Journal Article

First case of osteosarcoma in a dinosaur: a multimodal diagnosis

Ekhtiari, Seper, Wohl, Gregory, Geen, Olivia D, Crowther, Mark A, Kin On Wong, Andy, Crowther, Rhianne, Chiba, Kentaro, Tanke, Darren H, Evans, David C, Parasu, Naveen, Popovic, Snezana, Dufault, Danielle M

2020

Overview

To date, to our knowledge, no cases of malignant cancer have been reported in dinosaurs with sufficient reliability to be considered confirmed, at least by modern medical standards, which require biopsy and examination at the cellular level. Specifically, these diagnoses included (1) fracture, which was rejected because of the extension of abnormal bone very distal to the lesion despite more normal cortex in this location and the lack of a proximal fracture fragment; (2) osteomyelitis, which was rejected because of a lack of characteristic pockmarking and the bone-forming nature of the lesion; (3) non-ossifying fibroma, which was rejected because of the highly disorganised bone and no well defined zone of transition; and (4) osteochondroma, which was rejected given that the lesion clearly does not arise from or near a physis. [...]our findings indicate the presence of an osteosarcoma, meeting all the criteria discussed in terms of the morphological, radiological, and histological confirmation of this diagnosis. [...]to our knowledge, we provide the first confirmed case of malignant bone cancer in a dinosaur.

• Publisher: Elsevier Ltd,Elsevier Limited
• Subject: Animals / Biopsy / Bone cancer / Bone Neoplasms - veterinary / Cancer therapies / Chemotherapy / Diagnosis / Dinosaurs / Ewings sarcoma / Fossils - pathology / Fractures / Hematology, Oncology, and Palliative Medicine / Lesions / Medical diagnosis / Morphology / Museums / Osteochondroma / Osteomyelitis / Osteosarcoma / Osteosarcoma - veterinary / Pathology / Sarcoma