Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How common are lung nodules in dogs with skin soft tissue sarcoma?
By Villedieu, Erika J et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·2021·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Prevalence of pulmonary nodules suggestive of metastasis at presentation in dogs with cutaneous or subcutaneous soft tissue sarcoma.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at 146 dogs with skin tumors called soft tissue sarcomas (STS) to see if they had lung nodules that might indicate cancer spread when they first visited the vet. Out of these dogs, 16 (about 11.7%) had nodules on their lung scans, and the likelihood of finding these nodules was higher in dogs with more aggressive tumors (grade 3) and those whose tumors had been present for over three months. The findings suggest that checking the lungs for nodules is not very helpful for dogs with less aggressive tumors (grade 1 or 2) that have been around for three months or less.
People also search for: dog skin tumor lung nodules · soft tissue sarcoma in dogs · dog cancer spread symptoms
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of pulmonary nodules suggestive of metastasis at the time of initial presentation in dogs with cutaneous or subcutaneous soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) and no previous related thoracic diagnostic imaging. ANIMALS: 146 client-owned dogs with a cutaneous or subcutaneous STS. PROCEDURES: Medical records were retrospectively searched to identify dogs with STSs that underwent initial thoracic diagnostic imaging when presented for referral examination between September 2014 and March 2018. Data collected included patient and tumor characteristics. Results were evaluated for dogs grouped on the basis of variables of interest (eg, STS grade, duration, or history). RESULTS: Initial thoracic imaging was performed with CT (131/146 [89.7%]) or radiography (15 [10.3%]). Although the presence or absence of pulmonary nodules suggestive of metastasis on thoracic imaging was uncertain in 9 dogs, it was certain in the remaining 137 dogs, with nodules present in 16 (11.7%) dogs (5/77 [6%] with grade 1 STSs, 2/36 [6%] with grade 2 STSs, and 9/24 [38%] with grade 3 STSs). The odds of such pulmonary nodules being present on initial examination were higher (OR, 10.8 and 3.14, respectively) for dogs with grade 3 STSs (vs grade 1 or 2 STSs) and for dogs with an STS duration > 3 months (versus ≤ 3 months). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results indicated that pulmonary staging was a low-yield diagnostic procedure for dogs with grade 1 or 2 cutaneous or subcutaneous STSs, especially when tumors had been present for ≤ 3 months.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33405989/