Kona, a 4-year-old castrated American Shorthair cat, presents with right nasal congestion, sneezing, mucopurulent discharge, epistaxis, naris non-patent, and swelling over the nose. What diagnostics would you perform?

• A. Nasal biopsy, histopath
• B. Nasal biopsy, cytology
• C. Nasal biopsy, culture
• D. Nasal rhinoscopy, biopsy

Answer: (A)

Unilateral nasal disease with obstruction, epistaxis, and swelling raises concern for a neoplastic process in addition to infectious or inflammatory rhinitis. Getting a tissue sample that preserves architecture allows accurate classification of the lesion. A nasal biopsy examined histopathologically provides definitive information about whether the lesion is neoplastic (and what type) or inflammatory, which directly guides treatment and prognosis. Cytology alone might miss critical architectural features and misclassify lesions, and culture can identify infectious organisms but won’t diagnose the nature of the lesion. While rhinoscopy is a valuable tool to visualize the nasal cavity and obtain biopsies, the essential diagnostic detail comes from histopathologic evaluation of the biopsy tissue.