Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Predicting lymph node micrometastases in dog mast cell tumors
By Marconato, L et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2008·Clinica Veterinaria L'Arca, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Morphometrical approach for predicting regional lymph node micrometastatic load in canine mast cell tumours: preliminary results.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at dogs with skin tumors called mast cell tumors (MCTs) to see how many cancer cells might be hiding in their lymph nodes. Researchers found that dogs with MCTs had varying amounts of cancer cells in their lymph nodes, which can affect treatment decisions and outcomes. They discovered that certain measurements of the cancer cells helped predict whether there were hidden cancer cells present. This information could help veterinarians better stage the disease and choose the right treatment for dogs with MCTs.
People also search for: dog mast cell tumor lymph nodes · canine cancer staging · mast cell tumor treatment options
Abstract
Canine cutaneous mast cell tumours (MCTs) have a variable biologic behaviour, and accurate staging is necessary to dictate therapy and predict outcome. Regional lymph node (RLN) involvement is a relevant prognostic factor. While obvious lymph node (LN) metastases are relatively easy to be diagnosed, micrometastatic disease recognition is challenging. The main aim of the study was to evaluate the number of mast cells (MCs) in the LNs of clinically healthy dogs (n = 4, group 1), dogs with inflammatory diseases (n = 31, group 2) and dogs with cutaneous MCT (n = 27, group 3), including animals with no RLN metastases (subgroup 3.1), those with occasional MCs in RLNs (3.2) and those with obvious RLN metastasis (3.3). MCs also were morphometrically evaluated for the following nuclear parameters: mean nuclear area (MNA), mean nuclear perimeter (MNP), largest to smallest diameter length (LS ratio), mean nuclear form factor and coefficient of variation of nuclear area. The average percentages of MCs were 0.0 and 0.01 in groups 1 and 2, respectively, and 0.07, 2.4 and 47.1 in subgroup 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3. MNA and MNP were significantly higher in subgroup 3.3 than in group 2 (P < 0.05). MNA and MNP in subgroup 3.2 suggested the presence of neoplastic MCs; this prediction of micrometastatic load correlated with outcome. Analysis of preliminary results shows that nuclear morphometry is useful to detect micrometastatic disease in RLN of dogs bearing cutaneous MCTs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19178676/