Cirrhotic Liver of a 4 1/2 y.o. Labrador

So, can you tell where the lesions are in this liver?
It's a tough one.
That's right! They're everywhere.
In fact, there are so many lesions that the entire surface looks like it's covered in grapes.

And that's exactly what botryoid means - "Shaped like a bunch of grapes". Click on the image to see a nice enlargement.

And by the way - that purple structure is not a grape. It's the gallbladder.

Hemangiosarcoma - Liver

The word circular is used to describe a two dimensional object - like a disk or a plate.

The word spheroid, on the other hand, is used to describe three dimensional objects - like a globe or a ball.

It's a subtle difference, but one you need to be aware of.

Select the image to reveal the circular lesions.

Both circular lesions and spheroid lesions are visible on this specimen. Do you see both?

An image pointing out both types of lesions is available.

Uterine Adenocarcinoma

Do you see how bumpy, uneven and irregular this organ is? It is chock-full-o-tumor.

It's shape is so far from the normal bicornuate shape of the uterus that I'll bet you wouldn't even know what this gnarled thing is if we hadn't told you it's a uterus. That's how irregular it is.

Irregular is a good word to remember. Use it when the shape of a lesion cannot be categorized into nice, neat geometric shapes such as ovoid, circular or wedge-shaped.

Select the image to see an excellent enlargement.

Foreign Body in the Small Intestine

Animals eat the darnedest things, don't they...
This one in particular ate a corn cob.

The corn cob at left can be described as an oblong foreign body. In comparison, a tennis ball would a spherical foreign body and a hockey puck would be a circular foreign body.

The point here is that it is important to describe the shape of a lesion or a mass. While most people would conjure up a mental image of an oblong object were you to simply say "A corn cob", it is best to include a description of the shape whenever possible.

Many lesions are not really aptly described by the classical shapes circular, oblong, spheroid, rectangular (etc.), but when they are, you should use them because they are very descriptive words.

Canine Parvoviral Enteritis

The red, somewhat ulcerated, ovoid lesions at left are punched-out Peyer's patches caused by a parvovirus infection.

Canine Parvovirus (CPV) has an affinity for the rapidly dividing cells of the intestine, lymphoid tissues and the bone marrow. CPV thus leads to:

• Intestinal crypt cell necrosis,
• Damaged or "punched-out" lymph tissue (Peyer's patches in the case of the intestine)
• Leukopenia

Click on the photo to view a somewhat enlarged image (66K) of the intestine with ovoid lesions of the Peyer's Patches.

Serosal Cysts of the Uterus - Female Canine

Polypoid basically means "having or resembling polyps".

A polyp is a spheroidal, solid mass that protrudes upwards or outwards from a normal surface.

A cyst, on the other hand, is an abnormal sac that is filled with gas, fluid or semi-solid material. This material can cause the sac to protrude upward or outward - and thus cause the cysts to resemble polyps.

As you can see above, these cysts (the green balls) are spheroidal and protrude upwards and outwards and thus resemble polyps. So... we can say this uterus looks polypoid. Select the image to see a close-up of the cysts.

The cysts occur on the serosa of the uterus in aged dogs that have had multiple pregnancies. When the uterus involutes, little bits of mesothelium are pinched off and fill with fluid and form cysts.

Canine Kidney - possibly damage from Lyme disease.

Reniform means "shaped like a kidney".

And well, you guessed it. This is a kidney.
So it's reniform. Not too difficult there.

It's just a better, shorter word for saying "shaped like a kidney".
Shakespeare said, "Brevity is the soul of wit". So be witty and remember the word reniform.

Axillary Lipoma

This big blob of tissue is a lipoma. A lipoma (lipo=fat, oma=benign tumor) is a benign tumor of fat cells, usually mature fat cells.

If you compare this to the circular lesions on that liver with hemangiosarcomas, you can see that this lipoma is much more globular and three dimensional.

Anything that is bulbous and globe-like can be called spheroid.

Click on the lipoma to see an enlargement.

Acute pyelonephritis - Canine Kidney

Wedge-shaped lesions are most often infarcts as is the case in this specimen. The blood vessels are bright red and swollen due to the occlusion.

A conical pattern known as wedge-shaped is the result.
Select the image to reveal one of the wedge-shaped lesions.