Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cytology and biopsy often disagree on dog spleen tumor diagnosis
By Aluisio, Matthew F et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·2026·College of Veterinary Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Cytology and histopathology have poor to fair agreement for determination of neoplastic or nonneoplastic lesions in dogs with splenic masses or nodules.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 33 dogs with splenic masses or nodules underwent two types of tests—cytology (cell analysis) and histopathology (tissue analysis)—to determine if the growths were cancerous or not. The results showed that the two tests agreed only about half the time, with cytology being more accurate for identifying cancerous growths. In cases where cytology suggested a possible cancer, about 71% were confirmed as cancerous by histopathology. This means that while cytology can be helpful, it’s important for pet owners to understand that results can vary, and further testing may be needed for a definitive diagnosis.
People also search for: dog splenic mass diagnosis · cytology vs histopathology in dogs · dog cancer testing accuracy
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the correlation between cytology and histopathology of splenic masses or nodular lesions in dogs. METHODS: Retrospective medical record review from January 2014 to July 2022 of dogs that had a splenic mass or nodular lesion and cytologic and histopathologic evaluation within 90 days of each other. Slide review was conducted by a single pathologist from each subspecialty and recorded as neoplastic, possibly neoplastic, or nonneoplastic. RESULTS: 33 dogs were included and had a median of 4 days (range, 0 to 90 days) between cytologic and histopathologic evaluation. Cytologic and histopathologic results agreed in 18 of 33 dogs (55%; 12 nonneoplastic and 6 neoplastic), although the type of neoplasm differed in one of these (sarcoma vs lymphoma). There was disagreement in 8 of 33 dogs (24%; 7 neoplastic on histopathology and nonneoplastic on cytology, 1 nonneoplastic on histopathology and neoplastic on cytology). When including a possibly neoplastic cytologic diagnosis as neoplastic, there was agreement in 22 of 33 dogs (67%) and disagreement in 11 of 33 dogs (33%). In dogs with a neoplastic or possibly neoplastic cytologic diagnosis, 10 of 14 (71%) were neoplastic on histopathology. In dogs with a nonneoplastic cytologic diagnosis, 12 of 19 (63%) were nonneoplastic on histopathology. CONCLUSIONS: Cytologic diagnosis correlated with histopathologic diagnosis of splenic masses or nodular lesions in 55% to 67% of dogs. Cytology was accurate in 71% of neoplastic and 63% of nonneoplastic splenic masses or nodular lesions. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: There is poor to fair agreement between cytology and histopathology in dogs with splenic masses or nodular lesions. A neoplastic cytologic diagnosis more commonly agrees with histopathology than a nonneoplastic diagnosis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42055026/