Productive thyroid follicular carcinoma in a wild barred owl (Strix varia)

An adult male barred owl (Strix varia) was found unable to fly on a pasture during the day. On presentation, several lacerations were noted on the left wing. The animal was anesthetized for radiographic examination, which revealed mild swelling and irregularity of the soft tissues of the left wing. Over the plane of the syrinx and great vessels, ill-defined soft tissue opacity was present. The anesthetic recovery was unsuccessful, and the patient died. On gross necropsy, a 1 cm in diameter, round, soft, red-tan nodule, with scattered light tan to white foci was noticed between the right subclavian artery and the syrinx. The histopathology of this structure was characteristic of a thyroid follicular carcinoma. Neoplastic cells were immunoreactive to thyroglobulin and pancytokeratin proteins. A blood sample, taken antemortem, was analyzed for total and free thyroxine. Due to the lack of reference intervals for the current species, 4 blood samples from other barred owls were taken, 2 of which were clinically normal and 2 with an unhealthy status. The thyroid values were higher than the controls (total thyroxine by radioimmunoassay [mu g/dl] 1.1 vs. <0.2, <0.2, 0.6, <0.2; free thyroxine by equilibrium dialysis [ng/dl] >10 vs. <0.3, <0.3, 2.1, <0.3). Although the other 4 birds are not intended to serve as a reference interval because of the low number and unhealthy status, findings are indicative of a productive thyroid follicular carcinoma.