Abstract
I write today to take issue with statements made in the article “Xanthogranulomatous Inflammation of the Small Bowel in a Dog,” especially the authors' claims that “…such process has not yet been described in veterinary literature.” 1 Lipogranulomatous lymphangitis of the intestine of the dog has been recognized since 1973, and I and others significantly documented this disorder in 1984 2 with 7 large photographs (remarkably similar to those of Romanucci et al.) we reported the pathology of cases from 3 different universities. The current authors pretend they have discovered a new disease because they recognized 1 or 2 additional features, such as a change in smooth muscle. If they want to rename this disorder, that is subject to discussion, but let them first acknowledge that there were many other descriptions published before theirs and that, in fact, the disease has been described in pathology textbooks since 1988. 3 Advancing our understanding (and in color) is commendable. However, failing to recognize those who first characterized this disease is quite another matter. It was described by Finco et al. in 1973, Strombeck in 1979, Loppnow et al. in 1980, Burns in 1982, and Van Kruiningen et al. in 1984. These references can be found in our 1984 paper, in which the early authors were justly given credit. It is my feeling that the authors of “Xanthogranulomatous Inflammation of the Small Bowel in a Dog” owe us a retraction or rewrite and an apology.