Tracheal tumors in dogs and cats - signs and types

Abstract

Tracheal neoplasia is considered infrequent in domestic animals. A detailed summarized description of the demographic trends of the patients and frequent tumor types arising from this anatomical location is missing in the reference literature. To better describe clinical and pathological features, a multi-institutional retrospective analysis and literature review were conducted to collect all the tracheal neoplasms reported in dogs and cats. Forty-two cases from a multi-institutional data search and 123 documented cases from the veterinary literature between 1961 and August 2024 were collected for a total of 165 cases. Dogs represented 41.2% (68/165) of the cases retrieved, whereas the remaining 58.8% (97/165) were cats. The most common tracheal neoplasia in dogs in descending order were osteochondroma, plasma cell tumor, chondrosarcoma, malignant epithelial tumors (adenocarcinoma and carcinoma), and chondroma. In dogs, most of the affected animals were males (53%), with a mean age at the time of diagnosis of 6.7 years, and most of the tumors were located at the cervical trachea (43%). Labrador retrievers represented 10% of the cases. In cats, the most common tracheal neoplasms were lymphoma and malignant epithelial tumors (adenocarcinoma, carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma). In cats, most of the affected animals were males (52%) and domestic shorthairs (62%), with a mean age at the time of diagnosis of 10.7 years, and most of the tumors were located at the cervical trachea (38%). Diagnosticians must consider these differential diagnoses when dealing with tracheal samples that are suspicious of neoplasia in dogs and cats.