Three days later, the dog became anorexic, showed increasing resistance to being touched, and was euthanized. Multiple ulcerations were present on the ventral portion and margins of the tongue. In the esophagus there were multiple linear ulcerations. Blood chemistry was within normal limits. TEN, often caused by drugs, is a generalized disease with systemic illness.
Death is a common sequela.
The role of concurrent infections and neoplasia is under discussion. While TEN and EM may be different extremes of the same process, this lesion was considered more consistent with TEN because of the full thickness epidermal necrosis and severity of the clinical disease. EM is usually characterized by apoptosis of individual keratinocytes. Both TEN and EM are often associated with drug administration. The following chart highlights the most significant features that differentiate these three conditions.