Neoplastic diseases are typically diagnosed by biopsy and histopathological evaluation. The pathology report is key in determining prognosis, therapeutic decisions, and overall case management and therefore requires diagnostic accuracy, completeness, and clarity. Successful management relies on collaboration between clinical veterinarians, oncologists, and pathologists. To date there has been no standardized approach or guideline for the submission, trimming, margin evaluation, or reporting of neoplastic biopsy specimens in veterinary medicine. To address this issue, a committee consisting of veterinary pathologists and oncologists was established under the auspices of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists Oncology Committee. These consensus guidelines were subsequently reviewed and endorsed by a large international group of veterinary pathologists. These recommended guidelines are not mandated but rather exist to help clinicians and veterinary pathologists optimally handle neoplastic biopsy samples. Many of these guidelines represent the collective experience of the committee members and consensus group when assessing neoplastic lesions from veterinary patients but have not met the rigors of definitive scientific study and investigation. These questions of technique, analysis, and evaluation should be put through formal scrutiny in rigorous clinical studies in the near future so that more definitive guidelines can be derived.

Abstract. Th e pr ognostic vari ables of 223 consecutively sam pled sponta neous mammar y tum ors from fem ale dogs were studied. Th ese vari abl es included flow cyto metric DNA analysis and cell proliferat ion mea sur ed as cells in S-ph ase rate eva luated fro m D NA histogram s. Th e dogs were surgically treat ed , in mos t cases wit h unilat eral mastectom y (all mam mary glands), and 202 of th e 223 dogs were stud ied tem porally following surgery. Univa riate analysis with correction for age indi cated that the variables of lymph nod e metastasis, elevated S-phas e rat e, presen ce of a sarcoma, DNA aneuploidy, and ulcerati on and infiltrative growth int o und erl ying tissue had a statistically significant negat ive influence on th e sur vival rates of dogs with a d iagnosed malignant tum or. Simi lar results were obtained from tests on all dogs, but tumo r size and its relat ive hazard increase d with increasing size of the tumors, regard less of whet her total or d isease-specific mort alit y was cons ide red. Using mul tiva riate-analysiscon du cted Co x's proportion al hazard s mod el, elevated S-phase rate, increased age, and presence of a sarco ma remained statistically significant risk factor s. The prognostic value of DNA ploid y and lymph node status varied dependi ng on cho ice of end point. T he study of tum or growth patt ern and tum or size pro vided no prognostic in for mati on in the m ulti var iate analysis. Flow eytometrie cell ana lysis, incl ud ing S-phase rate and D NA ploid y, is of va lue in pred icting the prognosis of canine ma m ma ry tum ors and can be used as a new pro gnostic tool to improve the preoperative dia gnostics o f can ine mamm ary tumors.Key words: D NA ploidy; dogs; mammary tumor; multivariate statistical ana lysis; S-phase rate.Canine mammary tumors with apparent signs ofmalignancy, such as pronounced infiltr ative growth involving several mammary gland s, ede ma, ulcerated skin, and lymph node metastases, do not present an y diagno stic problems for experienced clinicians. However, becaus e man y canine mammar y tumors are not at an ad vanced stage of development when first detected by owners or clini cian s, th e current or pot ent ial biologic beha vior (hyperpl asia, benign proliferation , malignant tr ansformation) of these tumors is difficult to predict clinically. Becau se sma ll tumor s ha ve clinical characteristics th at are difficult to int erpret, bett er diagnostic tools are needed. A preoperat ive diagnosis th at includes tumor type and/o r prognostic information on th e tumor increases the possibility of adequate treatment. Cytologic diagnostics have been used for th at purpose. ' Progn ostic factors of canine mammary tum or s used in univariate anal yses include th e tumor type, th e growth/ stage, and th e size.4.5.8.,o.I,.2°The prognostic va lue of lymph node status, as determined by hist opathologic exa mination, is equivo cal.v-! '-" Th e valu e of additional information abo ut cell morphology ob-20 tain ed using flow cytom etr ic DNA analysi...

There is an increasing need for more accurate prognostic and predictive markers in veterinary oncology because of an increasing number of treatment options, the increased financial costs associated with treatment, and the emotional stress experienced by owners in association with the disease and its treatment. Numerous studies have evaluated potential prognostic and predictive markers for veterinary neoplastic diseases, but there are no established guidelines or standards for the conduct and reporting of prognostic studies in veterinary medicine. This lack of standardization has made the evaluation and comparison of studies difficult. Most important, translating these results to clinical applications is problematic. To address this issue, the American College of Veterinary Pathologists' Oncology Committee organized an initiative to establish guidelines for the conduct and reporting of prognostic studies in veterinary oncology. The goal of this initiative is to increase the quality and standardization of veterinary prognostic studies to facilitate independent evaluation, validation, comparison, and implementation of study results. This article represents a consensus statement on the conduct and reporting of prognostic studies in veterinary oncology from veterinary pathologists and oncologists from around the world. These guidelines should be considered a recommendation based on the current state of knowledge in the field, and they will need to be continually reevaluated and revised as the field of veterinary oncology continues to progress. As mentioned, these guidelines were developed through an initiative of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists' Oncology Committee, and they have been reviewed and endorsed by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association.

Comparative mapping data suggested that the dominant white coat color in pigs may be due to a mutation in KIT which encodes the mast/stem cell growth factor receptor. We report here that dominant white pigs lack melanocytes in the skin, as would be anticipated for a KIT mutation. We found a complete association between the dominant white mutation and a duplication of the KIT gene, or part of it, in samples of unrelated pigs representing six different breeds. The duplication was revealed by single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis and subsequent sequence analysis showing that white pigs transmitted two nonallelic KIT sequences. Quantitative Southern blot and quantitative PCR analysis, as well as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis, confirmed the presence of a gene duplication in white pigs. FISH analyses showed that KIT and the very closely linked gene encoding the platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFRA) are both located on the short arm of Chromosome (Chr) 8 at band 8p12. The result revealed an extremely low rate of recombination in the centromeric region of this chromosome, since the closely linked (0.5 cM) serum albumin (ALB) locus has previously been in situ mapped to the long arm (8q12). Pig Chr 8 shares extensive conserved synteny with human Chr 4, but the gene order is rearranged.

Summary Uteri from 60 bitches with a clinical diagnosis of pyometra, or with an enlarged uterus as revealed radiographically or ultrasonographically, underwent histopathological examination, at which a diagnosis of pyometra was established in 48 of the 60 (80%) cases. Escherichia coli was isolated from 43 (90%) of the 48 uteri with pyometra. In 8 of the 60 cases, other pathological uterine conditions, such as endometrial hyperplasia, adenomyosis, mucometra or hydrometra, were diagnosed histopathologically. No bacterial growth was observed in the uteri of these 8 cases. Four of the 60 bitches (6%) showed no pathological changes in the uterus, and in 3 of these no bacteriological growth was seen in the uterus, while in one case a sparse growth of mixed culture was found. Blood samples from bitches with uterine infection caused by gram‐negative bacteria showed marked hematological changes. These included higher total WBC counts and a more marked left shift in the differential WBC count than among the other bitches. Toxic degeneration of neutrophils was present among the bitches with gram‐negative uterine infection and the serum ALP level was slightly higher than in the other groups of bitches. The plasma endotoxin concentration was determined in 53 bitches before surgery, in 28 bitches after surgery and in 11 control dogs. Only in 7 of the samples was endotoxin detected. The general condition of the bitches included in the present study was only mildly to moderately affected, and in no case indicated severe endotoxemia.