Presumptive Primary Cerebral T-Cell Lymphoma in a White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphomas are rare in humans and even more uncommon in animals. We report the clinical, pathological and immunohistochemical features of a presumptive primary cerebral T-cell lymphoma (PCTCL) in an aged female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) that had chronic progressive neurological disease characterized by ataxia, claudication and eventual circling. The animal was euthanized due to poor prognosis. Grossly, a 2.5 cm dark red, friable nodule effaced the cortical neuroparenchyma of the left anterior cingulate cortex (LACC). Microscopically, the meningeal vasculature and adjacent grey and white matter cortical neuroparenchyma of the LACC were infiltrated by a poorly demarcated, unencapsulated and densely cellular round cell neoplasm with a consistent angiocentric pattern. The neoplasm was associated with extensive regions of haemorrhage and liquefactive necrosis. Neoplastic cells immunolabelled for CD3 antigen and had high proliferative activity, as indicated by Ki-67 labelling. Based on the cytohistomorphological and immunohistochemical features and absence of metastasis, a diagnosis of PCTCL was determined. This case indicates that PCTCL should be considered in the differential diagnosis of neurological disease and intracranial, intra-axial CNS masses in deer.