Congenital vascular malformations in the intestine of 2 neonatal goat kids

Disorders of the intestinal vasculature in animals include arteriovenous malformations, telangiectasia (ectasia, angiodysplasia), hamartomas, and neoplasia (hemangiomas, hemangiosarcomas). Two, 2-d-old, female Nigerian dwarf goat kids born to different dams on the same farm had severe and progressive abdominal distension and were euthanized. The autopsies revealed segmental circumferential dark-red areas that caused focal constriction of the mid-jejunum. The constriction led to obstruction of the intestinal lumen and proximal dilation of the jejunum and duodenum in both cases. <i>Clostridium perfringens</i> type D enterotoxemia was also diagnosed in one case. Histologic examination in both cases revealed a focal, moderately well-demarcated proliferation of medium- to small-caliber vascular channels with luminal erythrocytes, lined by morphologically normal endothelial cells, that expanded the tunica muscularis and serosa of the jejunum and compressed the mucosa and the lumen. The congenital nature of these lesions favors a diagnosis of vascular hamartomas; however, the histologic findings were indistinguishable from those of intestinal hemangiomas reported in young humans, horses, a pig, and a dog. The age of the affected goats, the location of the lesions in the same segment of the jejunum, and the presence of only one buck on the farm were suggestive of a genetic origin for these lesions. It is speculated that intestinal obstruction was the predisposing factor for <i>C. perfringens</i> type D enterotoxemia in one of the goats.