BACKGROUND Pet dogs and men share a vulnerability for the development of prostate carcinoma. The purpose of this study was to further characterize the clinical and pathologic features of spontaneous canine prostate carcinoma. METHODS A multiinstitutional, retrospective study was conducted using 76 dogs with prostate carcinoma that underwent postmortem evaluation. For each case, clinical and pathologic data were tabulated and hematoxylin/eosin‐stained tissue sections from the primary tumor and metastatic lesions were evaluated. Prostatic carcinomas were subclassified based upon the presence of glandular, urothelial, squamoid, or sarcomatoid differentiation. We focused our analysis on dogs that differed with respect to morphologic features of the primary tumor, lifetime duration of testicular hormone exposure, and presence of skeletal metastases. RESULTS The vast majority of canine prostate carcinomas affected elderly sexually intact dogs or dogs that underwent surgical castration after sexual maturity. Adenocarcinoma was the most frequent histologic type, although more than half of canine prostate carcinomas exhibited intratumoral heterogeneity. In many cases, primary tumors showed mixed morphology, characterized by two or more types of differentiation. Duration of testicular hormone exposure was significantly different between dogs with adenocarcinoma and dogs with mixed morphology tumor, but did not appear to influence the frequency or pattern of metastases. Overall, gross metastases were present in 80% of dogs with prostate carcinoma. Skeletal metastases were present in 22% of cases, and the predominantly axial skeletal distribution of these lesions was similar to that reported in men with prostate carcinoma. Young dogs were at highest risk for development of skeletal metastases. CONCLUSIONS This study provides a more complete characterization of spontaneous prostate carcinoma of dogs in terms of morphologic heterogeneity, skeletal metastases, and the influence of testicular hormones. Prostate carcinoma in pet dogs provides an immunocompetent, autochthonous tumor system that mimics certain aspects of human prostate cancer. This spontaneous model may contribute to our understanding of the factors that regulate carcinogenesis within the aged prostate, and to the development of chemoprevention strategies or bone‐targeted therapies. Prostate 45:173–183, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Multiple factors were associated with failure to survive and development of septic peritonitis after gastrointestinal surgery in dogs. Aggressive perioperative attempts to increase protein concentrations and intraoperative surgical strategies to decrease the chance of a poor outcome may be indicated in dogs with risk factors identified in this study.

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Medical records of 42 cats treated with mandibulectomy for oral neoplasia at eight institutions were reviewed to determine morbidity, progression-free interval, and survival time. Progression-free and survival rates at 1 and 2 years were 56% and 49%, and 60% and 57%, respectively. Cats with squamous cell carcinoma had significantly shorter survival than cats with fibrosarcoma or osteosarcoma. Seventy-two percent of cats were dysphagic or inappetent immediately postoperatively, and 12% never regained the ability to eat. Despite acute morbidity in 98% and long-term morbidity in 76% of cats, 83% of the 30 owners providing information were satisfied with the outcome of mandibulectomy.

We present near-infrared frequency-domain photon migration imaging for the lifetime sensitive detection and localization of exogenous fluorescent contrast agents within tissue-simulating phantoms and actual tissues. We employ intensity-modulated excitation light that is expanded and delivered to the surface of a tissue or tissue-simulating phantom. The intensity-modulated fluorescence generated from within the volume propagates to the surface and is collected using a gain-modulated image-intensified charge-coupled device camera. From the spatial values of modulation amplitude and phase of the detected fluorescent light, micromolar volumes of diethylthiatricarbocyanine iodide (tau = 1.17 ns) and indocyanine green (ICG) (tau = 0.58 ns) embedded 1.0 cm deep in a tissue phantom are localized and discriminated on the basis of their lifetime differences. To demonstrate the utility of frequency-domain fluorescent measurements for imaging disease, we image the fluorescence emitted from the surface of in vivo and ex vivo canine mammary gland tissues containing lesions with preferential uptake of ICG. Pathology confirms the ability to detect spontaneous mammary tumors and regional lymph nodes amidst normal mammary tissue and fat as deep as 1.5 cm from the tissue surface.