Congenital tumours and tumour-like lesions in domestic animals. 3. Horses. A review.

The literature on congenital tumours and tumour-like lesions in horses was reviewed. Included were embryonic tumours and teratomas. Special attention was paid to the ubiquitous adenomatous hyperplasia of the placenta. It appears that temporal teratomas, interstitial hamartomas and placental adenomatous hyperplasia are unique in the horse. Benign teratoma of the undescended testis is far more frequent in the horse than in other species. In horses, as in calves and pigs, congenital skin tumours were of papillomatous, vascular and melanocytic types. The sporadic occurrence of congenital tumours in the horse did not provide an etiologic or pathogenetic clue. The possibility of oncogenic viruses in cases of congenital skin papilloma or malignant lymphoma could neither be proven, nor be excluded. Hereditary tumours were not encountered.