Epithelial Cell Tumors of the Hen Reproductive Tract

There is a paucity of preclinical models that simulate the development of ovarian tumors in humans. At present, the egg-laying hen appears to be the most promising model to study the spontaneous occurrence of ovarian tumors in the clinical setting. Although gross classification and histologic grade of tumors have been used prognostically in women with ovarian tumors, there is currently no single system that is universally used to classify reproductive tumors in the hen. Four hundred and one 192-wk-old egg-laying hens were necropsied to determine the incidence of reproductive tumors using both gross pathology and histologic classification. Gross pathologic classifications were designated as follows: birds presenting with ovarian tumors only (class 1), those presenting with oviductal and ovarian tumors (class 2), those with ovarian and oviductal tumors that metastasized to the gastrointestinal tract (class 3), those with ovarian and oviductal tumors that metastasized to the gastrointestinal tract and other distant organs (class 4), those with oviductal tumors only (class 5), those with oviductal tumors that metastasized to other organs with no ovarian involvement (class 6), and those with ovarian tumors that metastasized to other organs with no oviductal involvement (class 7), including birds with gastrointestinal tumors and no reproductive involvement (GI only) and those with no tumors (normal). Histopathologic classifications range from grades 1 to 3 and are based on mitotic developments and cellular differentiation. An updated gross pathology and histologic classification systems for the hen reproductive malignancies provides a method to report the range of reproductive tumors revealed in a flock of aged laying hens.