BRIEF COMMUNICATION Fibromyxoma in the reticulo-omasal orifice of a cow Ahmad Reza Movassaghi & Gholamreza Mohammadi & Massoud Rezaee Oghazi Received: 31 October 2012 / Accepted: 13 February 2013 / Published online: 24 February 2013 # Springer-Verlag London 2013 Abstract A 3-year-old female Holstein cow was referred for necropsy examination with the history of inappetence, progres- sive indigestion, distension of the rumen and death. At necrop- sy examination, a lobulated grey-white mass (12×8×5 cm) was found close to the reticulo-omasal orifice. On sectioning, the tumour mass was gelatinous with intervening fibrous septa. Microscopical examination revealed unencapsulated mass composed of various cellular parts and matrices. There were proliferated spindle shaped fibrocytes producing repetitive col- lagenous fibres. There were also foci of low cellularity containing stellate cells with small and hyperchromatic nuclei arranged in a mucinous ground substance. On the basis of the gross and histopathological findings and histochemical stainings, the tumour was diagnosed as a fibromyxoma. This tumour has not been recorded previously in the reticulo-omasal orifice of a cow. Keywords Cow . Reticulo-omasal orifice . Fibromyxoma Fibromyxomas are rare benign tumours of uncertain histo- genesis that occur in a number of locations in humans, including the heart, jawbone and skeletal muscles. Fibromyxomas are uncommonly encountered in the head and neck region (Grand et al. 1998). Fibroma is a benign neoplasm of fibroblasts and so is myxoma but the latter is distinguished by its abundant myxoid matrix rich in muco- polysaccharides. Fibroma and myxoma are most often seen in the dog and cats (Goldschmidt and Hendrick 2002). Fibroma and myxoma are uncommon neoplasms in large animals; however, the previous reports of fibroma in cattle include an unusual case of subcutaneous fibroma in a heifer (Movassaghi and Mohammadi 2009), a solitary case in the teat of a heifer (Ford et al. 1989) and cases of perianal area (Gahold et al. 1998, Kiyoshi 1999). There are also reports of fibroma in the interdigital area (Beytut et al. 2000), ameloblastic fibroma in the mandibular incisor region (Gardner 1996), a case of fibroma diagnosed in a study of 66 primary hepatic tumours (Bettini and Marcato 1992) and fibroma in the tail of a cow (Yeruham and Perl 2001). There are very few reports of myxoma in cattle, including a congenital cutaneous myxoma (Yeruham and Perl 2002), two cases of myxoma in the limbs of two aged cows (Yeruham and Perl 2002) and interdigital myxoma in a Hariana cow (Misra et al. 1981). This paper describes a rare case of fibromyxoma in the forestomach of a Holstein cow. A 3-year-old Holstein cow was referred for necropsy examination with the history of inappetence, progressive indigestion, distension of the rumen and poor body condi- tion. At necropsy examination, a lobulated grey-white mass (12 × 8 × 5 cm) was found close to the reticulo-omasal orifice causing partial obstruction (Fig. 1). On sectioning, the mass was gelatinous with intervening fibrous septa. No other gross lesions were observed. Tissue samples from the mass A. R. Movassaghi (*) Center of Excellence in Ruminant Abortion and Neonatal Mortality, Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, P.O. Box 91775- 1793, Mashhad, Iran e-mail: armov@ferdowsi.um.ac.ir G. Mohammadi Department of Clinical Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, P.O. Box 91775-1793, Mashhad, Iran M. Rezaee Oghazi Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, P.O. Box 91775-1793, Mashhad, Iran Comp Clin Pathol (2013) 22:535–537 DOI 10.1007/s00580-013-1709-5