Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog skin mast cell tumor surgery outcomes with clean vs unclean
By Michels, Gina M et al.·Published in Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association·2002·Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Prognosis following surgical excision of canine cutaneous mast cell tumors with histopathologically tumor-free versus nontumor-free margins: a retrospective study of 31 cases.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A dog with skin tumors underwent surgery to remove mast cell tumors, which are a type of cancer that can appear on the skin. The study looked at whether having clear margins (no cancer cells left behind) after surgery made a difference in the chances of the cancer coming back or causing death. It found that not having clear margins didn't significantly affect the dog's chances of relapse or survival, as all cancer-related deaths happened after a relapse. This suggests that even if some cancer cells remain, it may not always lead to immediate problems.
People also search for: dog skin tumor surgery · mast cell tumor prognosis in dogs · dog cancer recurrence after surgery
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine if the presence of histopathologically tumor-free versus nontumor-free margins was prognostic for relapse or tumor-related death in dogs following surgical excision of single or multiple cutaneous mast cell tumors confined to the skin without evidence of metastasis to lymph nodes or other noncutaneous sites. Differences in tumor-related death or frequency of relapse between the two groups were not significant. Failure to achieve histopathological tumor-free margins frequently did not lead to local relapse. All tumor-related deaths occurred following local relapse. The lack of statistical support for an association between prognosis and histopathological tumor-free versus nontumor-free margins may be a result of small sample size.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12220031/