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Uterine Infarctions in Cynomolgus Monkeys (Macaca fascicularis)

Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC (JT, JC), Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, Lexington, KY (FB), Human Genome Sciences, Inc., Rockville, MD (JF), College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (CC), 3M Center, St. Paul, MN (MO), Tengion Inc., Winston-Salem, NC (MJ)

Uterine infarctions have not been reported in domestic animals, and there are few reports in the human medical literature. In a retrospective study, uterine infarctions were identified in 9 of 323 (2.8%) female cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) necropsied over a 13-year period. The infarctions were grossly visible, after fixation, on the serosal surface of the uterus in 2 monkeys; the remainder were first recognized in histologic sections. Histologically, the lesions consisted of well-demarcated regions of endometrial and myometrial necrosis and of hemorrhage. All affected monkeys had histologic evidence of a previous pregnancy, which included enlarged myometrial vessels with an expanded perivascular matrix. In all monkeys with uterine infarctions, there was clinical evidence of severe systemic illness, which included trauma, diarrhea, hypovolemia, or septicemia. The major pathologic findings in affected monkeys included cutaneous or skeletal muscle necrosis (n = 5), enterocolitis (n = 4), pulmonary edema or diffuse alveolar damage (n = 3), and intestinal amyloidosis (n = 1). Histopathologic evidence of intravascular fibrin thrombi in multiple organs of 5 monkeys was consistent with a diagnosis of disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC). Based on these findings, it appears that uterine infarction is an uncommon finding in cynomolgus monkeys and may occur secondary to a severe systemic illness, predisposing to DIC.

Key words: Disseminated intravascular coagulation; Macaca fascicularis; parous animal; uterine infarctions.

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