Bronchoscopic debulking of a feline tracheobronchial carcinoma and long-term outcome

This report describes a 10-year-old female spayed Russian Blue cat presented with a 5 month history of respiratory difficulty. Thoracic radiographs were suggestive of a central airway obstruction. Bronchoscopy revealed a broad-base mass in the region of the carina. Bronchoscopic debulking was performed using a urinary catheter. Histopathology confirmed the presence of a tracheobronchial carcinoma. Survival from diagnosis was 16 months (480 days), over which time the cat underwent three endoscopic debulking procedures in combination with doxorubicin chemotherapy. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a tracheobronchial carcinoma in a cat treated by endoscopic debulking with a urinary catheter and adjuvant chemotherapy with long-term survival time. A review of interventional bronchoscopy performed in humans and in veterinary medicine is described.