Traumatic Marjolin's ulcer in sheep: squamous cell carcinoma arising from chronic dorsal fence-wire injuries.

Early recognition and management of chronic wounds prevents malignant transformation in sheep.

This report documents the first cases of Marjolin's ulcer (MU) in sheep, a rare and aggressive squamous cell carcinoma arising from chronic cutaneous injury. Five Santa Inês ewes from a confined flock in Northeastern Brazil developed chronic dorsal wounds from repeated mechanical trauma caused by crawling under galvanized wire fencing over two years. The non-healing hypertrophic lesions rapidly enlarged three months before evaluation, presenting as multinodular, ulcerated, friable, malodorous wounds with extensive scarring. Histopathology confirmed moderately differentiated infiltrative squamous cell carcinoma with marked keratinocyte atypia, keratin pearl formation, and chronic inflammation. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated pancytokeratin immunolabelling confirming epithelial origin. Complete necropsies revealed no lymphatic or visceral metastases. This investigation emphasizes the importance of early recognition and management of chronic wounds in small ruminants to prevent malignant transformation, and distinguishes traumatic MU from solar radiation-induced SCC.

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