Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cytology for diagnosing nervous system issues in dogs and cats
By De Lorenzi, Davide et al.·Published in Veterinary clinical pathology·2006·Clinica Veterinaria S. Marco, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Squash-prep cytology in the diagnosis of canine and feline nervous system lesions: a study of 42 cases.
Plain-English summary
A group of 33 dogs and 9 cats with nervous system lesions underwent surgery or postmortem examination, where samples were taken for cytology (a test that examines cells) to help diagnose their conditions. The results showed that in 76% of cases, the cytology provided a completely accurate diagnosis, while 14% had partial accuracy, and 10% were incorrect. Overall, cytology was found to be a reliable tool for diagnosing nervous system issues in pets, with satisfactory results in 90% of the cases. This means that if your pet has a nervous system problem, cytology can be a helpful diagnostic option.
People also search for: dog nervous system lesions diagnosis · cat brain tumor symptoms · cytology for pet tumors
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The increased sophistication of imaging techniques in veterinary medicine allows the detection of a wide variety of intracranial and intraspinal lesions; however, imaging often does not provide a definitive diagnosis for nervous system (NS) lesions. Cytology is emerging as a useful diagnostic tool for obtaining a fast and accurate assessment of NS lesions, but little information is available for dogs and cats. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of cytologic evaluation of squash samples from NS lesions in dogs and cats and to consider cytology-based diagnostic guidelines and sources of misdiagnosis. METHODS: Cytologic specimens from masses localized in the central and peripheral NS taken during surgery or postmortem examination were classified into 3 groups according to the final histopathologic diagnosis: Group 1 = completely correct diagnosis, when the cytologic diagnosis and final histologic diagnosis were exactly correlated; Group 2 = partial correlation, when the cytologic diagnosis only partially correlated with the final histologic diagnosis, and Group 3 = no correlation, when the cytologic diagnosis was incorrect and there was no correlation with the general histologic type of lesion. The diagnostic accuracy of cytopathology was calculated by considering the histopathologic diagnosis as the "gold standard," and calculating a 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: A total of 42 animals (33 dogs and 9 cats) were included in the study. The cytologic diagnoses were classified in Group 1 for 32 cases (76%; 95% CI 0.63-0.89), in Group 2 for 6 cases (14%; 95% CI 0.04-0.25), and in Group 3 for 4 cases (10%; 95% CI 0.006-0.18). Considering both complete and partial correlation as an adequate result, cytologic diagnosis was satisfactory in 90% of biopsies. CONCLUSIONS: Although the current series of cases is relatively small, cytologic evaluation of squash preparations can be considered a fairly accurate and reliable tool in the diagnosis of NS lesions.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16783715/