Endocrinopathy and Aging in Ferrets

Ferrets have become more popular as household pets and as animal models in biomedical research in the past 2 decades. The average life span of ferrets is about 5-11 years with onset of geriatric diseases between 3-4 years including endocrinopathies, neoplasia, gastrointestinal diseases, cardiomyopathy, splenomegaly, renal diseases, dental diseases, and cataract. Endocrinopathies are the most common noninfectious disease affecting middle-aged and older ferrets. Spontaneous neoplasms affecting the endocrine system of ferrets appear to be increasing in prevalence with a preponderance toward proliferative lesions in the adrenal cortex and pancreatic islet cells. Diet, gonadectomy, and genetics may predispose ferrets to an increased incidence of these endocrinopathies. These functional proliferative lesions cause hypersecretion of hormones that alter the physiology and metabolism of the affected ferrets resulting in a wide range of clinical manifestations. However, there is an apparent dearth of information available in the literature about the causal relationship between aging and neoplasia in ferrets. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the anatomy and physiology of endocrine organs, disease incidence, age at diagnosis, clinical signs, pathology, and molecular markers available for diagnosis of various endocrine disorders in ferrets.

Single-stage laparoscopic adrenalectomy for pheochromocytoma and enucleation of a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor in Von Hippel-Lindau disease: A case report

Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease is an inherited syndrome with autosomal-dominant transmission, characterized by central nervous system and retinal hemangioblastomas, visceral cysts and tumors. Optimal surgical treatment, including its timing, remains a controversial topic. The present study reports the case of a 67-year-old female patient with adrenal and pancreatic manifestations of VHL. A laparoscopic cortex-sparing left adrenalectomy for a 4-cm pheochromocytoma and pancreatic enucleation for pancreatic polypeptidoma of the pancreas tail were performed during the same operative procedure. The total operative time was 240 min. There were no operative complications, and the surgery was completed laparoscopically with minimal blood loss. A prolonged hospital stay was necessary to treat a grade C postoperative pancreatic fistula. The histopathological result was an adrenal pheochromocytoma and a well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor, secreting pancreatic polypeptides. In conclusion, organ-sparing laparoscopic surgery is an important option for treating simultaneous lesions in several abdominal solid viscera, such as VHL disease, and the present case study represents, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the first report of single-stage laparoscopic adrenalectomy and pancreatic tumor enucleation.