Nuclear Morphometry in Relation to Lymph Node Status in Canine Mammary Carcinomas

• DOI: 10.1007/s11259-006-0108-7
• Publication Date: 2007-02-05T16:15:41Z
• Authors: G. De Vico; P. Maiolino; M. Cataldi; G. Mazzullo; B. Restucci
• Keywords: Histocytochemistry; Mammary Neoplasms, Animal; 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences; Nuclear morphometry; Lymph Nodes; Mammary carcinoma; dog; 0403 veterinary science; 03 medical and health sciences; Dogs; 0302 clinical medicine; Lymphatic Metastasis; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Animals; Female; Dog Diseases; Lymph Nodes

The assessment of nuclear area and nuclear shape by morphometric analysis, has been investigated in 40 canine mammary carcinomas in relation to their metastatic behaviour to regional lymph-nodes. The tumours were reviewed by two experienced pathologists blinded regarding their lymph-node status, and were classified according to the histogenetically based criteria suggested by Benjamin et al. (1999). Twenty of these tumours showed lymph-node metastases (node-positive), and the other twenty were node-negative. Node-positive tumours included 6 simple adenocarcinomas, 10 ductular carcinomas, 2 anaplastic carcinomas and 2 carcinomas in mixed tumours; node-negative tumours included 18 adenocarcinomas %96, 10 simple adenocarcinomas, 8 complex adenocarcinomas %96, and 2 carcinomas in mixed tumours. Node-positive tumours showed MNA and mean SDA values significantly higher (p<0.001) than node-negative carcinomas. Data of this study, seems to confirm the importance of an histogenetically based classification in canine mammary tumours, also suggesting that morphometry may increase our prognostic performances allowing a reproducible method for detecting individual tumours with higher metastatic potential.