Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How vets grade skin mast cell tumors in cats
By Sabattini, Silvia & Bettini, Giuliano·Published in Veterinary pathology·2019·Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Grading Cutaneous Mast Cell Tumors in Cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 10-year-old domestic shorthair cat was diagnosed with a skin tumor called a cutaneous mast cell tumor (cMCT). While most of these tumors are benign and can be removed with surgery, some can be aggressive and spread to other areas. In this study, researchers developed a grading system to help predict how serious the tumor might be based on certain features observed under a microscope. They found that cats with high-grade tumors had a much shorter survival time compared to those with low-grade tumors. This new grading system could help veterinarians better assess and treat cats with cMCTs in the future.
People also search for: cat skin tumor treatment · mast cell tumor in cats prognosis · feline cancer survival rates
Abstract
Cutaneous mast cell tumors (cMCTs) account for approximately 20% of skin neoplasms in cats. As there is no grading system for these tumors, prognosis is difficult to estimate. Although the typical presentation is a benign tumor that can be cured by surgical excision, a small but important proportion of feline cMCTs is biologically aggressive and can spread to local lymph nodes, precede the onset of disseminated cutaneous disease, or be associated with visceral involvement. A number of macroscopic and histologic features were retrospectively evaluated in cases of feline cMCTs treated with surgical excision with or without medical therapy. Cats were divided into 2 groups based on the clinical outcome. Group 1 included cats alive with no mast cell tumor-related disease at 1000 days from surgery; group 2 included cats developing histologically confirmed metastatic or cutaneous disseminated disease. The criteria allowing the best differentiation between the groups were used to develop a grading scheme. Groups 1 and 2 were composed by 48 (76%) and 15 (24%) cases, respectively. Tumors were classified as high grade if there were >5 mitotic figures in 10 fields (400×) and at least 2 of the following criteria: tumor diameter >1.5 cm, irregular nuclear shape, and nucleolar prominence/chromatin clusters. According to this scheme, the 15 (24%) high-grade cMCTs had significantly reduced survival time (median, 349 days; 95% CI, 0-739 days) as compared with the 48 low-grade tumors (median not reached; P < .001). Further studies are warranted to validate this grading system and test reproducibility on a larger case series.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30244666/