Spontaneous lipid embolism in an obese minipig(Sus scrofa domesticus)

Abstract

A perished, one-year-old, male-neutered minipig was submitted for pathological examination after a brief history of anorexia and hypothermia. Necropsy revealed an obese body condition and multifocal to coalescing severe necroses of the visceral fatty tissue, especially of the perirenal region. Histopathologic examination showed severe chronic granulomatous and necrotising steatitis and optically empty vacuoles in the lumen of small and capillary blood vessels of lung, liver and kidney, consisting of lipid droplets ascertained by Sudan red stain. Lipid embolism occurs after traumatic insults such as long-bone fracture or orthopaedic surgery in both human and veterinary medicine. Non-traumatic lipid embolism, as observed in this case, is rare and the pathogenesis is still obscure.

Keywords

• fat necrosis
• fat embolism
• FES
• lung
• obesity