TITLE:
Genital and Extragenital Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumor in Dogs in Grenada, West Indies
AUTHORS:
Alfred Chikweto, Sachin Kumthekar, Hugh Larkin, Claude Deallie, Keshaw P. Tiwari, Ravindra N. Sharma, Muhammad I. Bhaiyat
KEYWORDS:
Dog; Extragenital; Transmissible Venereal Tumor; Grenada
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Veterinary Medicine,
Vol.3 No.2,
June
6,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Transmissible venereal tumor (TVT) is a
widely reported transplantable tumor in dogs, with no breed or sex predilection
and with a low metastatic rate. This retrospective study conducted from 2005
and 2011 sought to evaluate the total number of TVT cases, and to report
extragenital TVT lesions in dogs from the small tropical island of Grenada, West
Indies. Evaluation of the biopsy and necropsy specimens from dogs with TVT was
carried out by cytological and histopathological methods. In the present study,
we observed a total of 78 dogs with TVT, comprising 40 male and 38 female dogs.
Most cases were from dogs between 3 and 6 years; less frequently from older
dogs (over 6 years) or younger dogs (1 - 2 years of age). In the present study, we
report 15 cases (19.2%) of dogs with TVT in extragenital sites. Tumors were
noted in the nasal cavity, eye orbit, spleen, liver, skin, ribs, subcutaneous,
and submandibular, cervical and inguinal lymph nodes. There was also evidence
of metastasis to the ovaries in 2 dogs. The most interesting finding was the
presence of extragenital lesions without primary genital involvement in 4 cases
(5.1%). Our findings emphasize the need to consider TVT on the list of
differential diagnosis for masses in extragenital sites in dogs from geographic
regions where TVT is prevalent.