Cytology dog mast cell tumor

Are mast cell tumours a 'best practice' for dogs and cats?

Mast cell tumours (MCT) are commonly encountered in small animal practice

This review outlines the biology of mast cell disease, the physiological consequences of MCT and offers a ‘best practice’ approach to clinical management of dogs and cats with mast cell disease

What is cytological grading of mast cell tumors in dogs?

Cytologic grading of MCTs provides significant prognostic information, can be useful in determining a treatment plan, and correlates well with clinical outcome

Mast cell tumors are common skin tumors of dogs

What is mast cell disease in dogs?

Mast cell disease is a common disease of dogs and should always be considered in the list of differential diagnoses for a skin mass

Mast cell tumours can give rise to paraneoplastic disease associated with histamine or heparin release from degranulating tumours

Diagnosis can be made by fine needle aspirate (FNA)

Cytology is a quick, inexpensive method routinely used to diagnose MCTs. Generally, these tumors exfoliate high numbers of cells that typically contain large numbers of small, round, purple granules, making diagnosis straightforward. The cellular features that compose the Kiupel grading system can be evaluated on cytologic preparations.Most MCTs are easily diagnosed via cytology (Figures 3 and 4), although a small percentage of canine MCTs have granules that do not stain well with Diff Quik stain (Figure 5) and must instead have a Wright-Giemsa stain applied (Figure 6). Thus, keeping some of the cytology slides unstained is key.To establish the diagnosis of MCT, a cytological examination of a fine needle aspirate is usually sufficient, but the biological behavior can only be determined by additional clinical and laboratory analyses and thus assessment of the grade and stage of the disease (1 – 4).Veterinarians can easily identify mast cells by examination of a fine-needle aspirate of the suspect mass. To determine the extent of the tumor, your veterinarian may collect cells from regional lymph nodes and bone marrow for microscopic examination, in addition to performing imaging of the thorax and abdomen.

Mast cell tumors (Figure 9) are the most common skin tumor in dogs. 10 They can occur as single or multiple skin tumors and occasionally infiltrate the abdominal organs and bone marrow. Mast cell tumors cannot be graded on cytology; histopathology is required.

,Mast cell (MC) tumors are hematopoietic neoplasms characterized by uncontrolled proliferation and/or