Multiple organ metastasis of an aortic body tumor in a boxer

A 9-year-old sexually intact male Boxer with a history of multiple episodes of syncope and various cardiac arrhythmias was determined radiographically to have a large mass in the heart-base region and was subsequently euthanatized upon worsening of clinical signs. Histologic and ultrastructural examination of tissue from the heart-base mass indicated that the tumor was most likely a chemodectoma derived from the aortic body (aortic body tumor, extra-adrenal paraganglioma). Macroscopic and/or microscopic evidence of metastasis of the tumor was seen in the lungs, myocardium, spleen, liver, kidneys, and dura mater over the cerebellum.