Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How benign mammary tumors in female dogs can progress to cancer
By Sorenmo, K U et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2009·School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Canine mammary gland tumours; a histological continuum from benign to malignant; clinical and histopathological evidence.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 90 female dogs with mammary gland tumors was studied to understand the differences between benign and malignant tumors. The dogs with malignant tumors were generally older, averaging 9.5 years, and these tumors were larger than benign ones. Many of the dogs had multiple tumors, and those with malignant tumors were more likely to develop new tumors later on. This research highlights how mammary tumors in dogs can progress from benign to malignant, similar to what is seen in human breast cancer.
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Abstract
This study describes the clinical and histopathological findings in dogs with mammary gland tumours, and compares the histopathological and clinical evidence consistent with progression from benign to malignant to human breast cancer epidemiology. Clinical and histopathological data on 90 female dogs with 236 tumours was included. Dogs with malignant tumours were significantly older than dogs with benign tumours (9.5 versus 8.5 years), P = 0.009. Malignant tumours were significantly larger than benign tumours (4.7 versus 2.1 cm), P = 0.0002. Sixty-six percent had more than one tumour, and evidence of histological progression was noted with increasing tumour size. Dogs with malignant tumours were significantly more likely to develop new primary tumours than dogs with benign tumours, P = 0.015. These findings suggest that canine mammary tumours progress from benign to malignant; malignant tumours may be the end stage of a histological continuum with clinical and histopathological similarities to human breast carcinogenesis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19691645/