Cytopathologic diagnosis of skin and soft tissue palpable lesions in dogs

The identification of tumors requires the use of practical diagnostic techniques for early evaluation of these lesions. Cytology is the best option to achieve this goal due to its simplicity, fast results, low invasiveness and costs. This work aimed to evaluate the epidemiologic aspects and determine the prevalence of skin palpable lesions and soft tissue lesions of the dog population treated at Unidade Hospitalar Veterinaria (UHV) of Universidade Estadual do Ceara (UECE). There were forms filled with the lesions aspects and epidemiologic information of the animals. In total, 262 samples were collected of 186 animals that presented skin and soft tissue palpable lesions. The prevalence in dogs without breed standard was high in this study, a number about 55.4% of all animals, followed by the breeds Poodle, Pitbull and Cocker Spaniel. Of all concluded diagnoses, 184 were neoplastic lesions, 57 non-neoplastic and 21 were non-representative. Of the neoplasms, 22.3% were classified as epithelial origin, 34.8% were mesenchyme origin diagnosed and 45.1% were round cells tumors. Considering the anatomic regions, was observed that most of the samples were collected from the hind limbs, with a 11.9% rate. With this study, we conclude that neoplastic lesions were more prevalent in comparison with the non-neoplastic ones and the round cells tumors were found to be the most prevalent. Among the round cell tumors, the mast cell tumor was the most prevalent which shows the high incidence of this kind of neoplasm in dogs.