Congenital intradural melanoma surrounding the spinal cord of a nine‐day‐old Saanen goat

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

A nine‐day‐old Saanen kid presented for progressive hind limb paresis since birth. Euthanasia was elected, and on postmortem examination a large, pigmented mass was present in the vertebral canal surrounding the lumbosacral and caudal thoracic spinal cord. Histopathology revealed a homogeneous population of round to spindle neoplastic cells containing finely granular pigment consistent with a melanoma. This diagnosis was further supported by a Fontana‐Masson stain and immunohistochemistry for PNL2, MelanA and SOX10. The tumour presumably arose from melanocytes or melanocytic precursors within the meninges of the lumbosacral spinal cord. No evidence of neoplasia was seen elsewhere in the body; therefore, the meningeal melanoma likely represents the primary tumour. Goats develop neoplasms less frequently than other species, and reports of congenital tumours in goats are rare.