Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Fibrolipoma tumors in dogs mostly on head and legs 2017-2024
By Mendes, Ricardo E et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc·2025·College of Veterinary Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Cutaneous and subcutaneous fibrolipomas in 236 dogs, 2017-2024: a retrospective case series and comparative review.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 236 dogs, mostly around 8 years old, were found to have fibrolipomas, which are benign tumors made of fat and fibrous tissue. These tumors were most commonly located on the head, but could also appear on the carpal area, elbow, thorax, and abdominal wall. The majority of the cases were seen in castrated male dogs, particularly Labrador Retrievers. While these tumors are generally not harmful, if you notice any unusual lumps on your dog, it's a good idea to have them checked by a veterinarian to rule out any serious issues.
People also search for: dog lump on head · Labrador Retriever tumor · benign tumors in dogs · what to do about dog lumps · fibrolipoma in dogs
Abstract
Fibrolipoma is a well-recognized benign neoplasm composed of adipocytes transected by fibrous connective tissue, but large population studies on these neoplasms are lacking in veterinary medicine. We retrospectively searched for canine cutaneous and subcutaneous fibrolipomas submitted to the surgical diagnostic pathology service of the Athens Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (Athens, GA, USA) between 2017 and 2024. We retrieved 236 neoplasms from 64,560 biopsies. The median age of affected patients was 8 y (±2.8 y), with an average tumor size of 2.9 cm (±2.3 cm). The head was the location affected most commonly (31.9% of cases), followed by the carpal area (10.3%), elbow (9.9%), thorax (6.9%), and abdominal wall (5.6%). Most cases were classified as cutaneous (90%). Compared with the total number of biopsy submissions, castrated male (46.2%; = 0.013) and Labrador Retriever (23%; = 0.047) dogs were affected most often.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40170360/