Retrospective study of melanocytic neoplasms in dogs and cats

Teixeira, Tarso FSilva, Tereza C. daCogliati, BrunoNagamine, Márcia KDagli, Maria L. Z

Melanoma is one of the most lethal skin neoplasms among dogs and cats, and its incidence is increasing worldwide in the last years. The relation between the study of tumor biology and epidemiologic data from melanocytic tumors (melanomas and melanocytomas) can help in the achievement of an earlier and safer clinical diagnosis.However, epidemiologic data for these neoplasms are still rare in Brazil. Thus, we performed a retrospective study of melanocytic neoplasms in dogs and cats registered at the Animal Pathology Service of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (SVMAS), University of São Paulo (USP), between January of 2000 and December of 2006. The epidemiological data extracted from pathology records regarded affected population (age, gender, hair color) and tumor characteristics (anatomic location and histological type). Of 2154 histopathological reports analyzed 193 (8.9%) were melanocytic neoplasms, of which 186 cases in dogs (96.4%) and only 7 in cats (3.6%). Male dogs, of

1. Epidemiology
2. Dog
3. Melanocytic neoplasm
4. Cat
5. Tumor biology