Abstract:
Meningiomas are the most common primary brain tumour in dogs and cats. However,
whilst there are numerous reports of extracranial (spinal, orbital and sinonasal) meningiomas in
the dog, there have only been a few case reports of spinal meningiomas, and no post-mortem
confirmed orbital or sinonasal meningiomas in cats. In this report, a 20-year-old captive tiger (Panthera
tigris altaica) with a history of chronic ocular inflammation resulting in enucleation, spontaneously
developed tetanic convulsions (epileptic seizures) that over a 2-year period resulted in a gradually
worsening condition and the animal was eventually euthanized. At autopsy, a focal, expansile,
neoplastic mass was found in the caudal nasal cavity midline, abutting the cribriform plate and
slightly compressing the calvarium. Histological analysis revealed nasal turbinates attached to a wellcircumscribed
expansile multi-lobular mass consisting of interlacing whorls and streams of neoplastic
cells supported by a variably fibrous to microcystic collagenous matrix displaying rare psammoma
bodies. The diagnosis was sinonasal transitional meningioma. This is the first report of a captive wild
felid with an extracranial meningioma, specifically a tiger with a sinonasal transitional meningioma.
