Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Variation among pathologists in histologic grading of canine cutaneous mast cell tumors.
- Journal:
- Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc
- Year:
- 2005
- Authors:
- Northrup, Nicole C et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery · United States
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
In a study involving 60 skin tumors from dogs called mast cell tumors (MCTs), ten veterinary pathologists evaluated and assigned grades to these tumors independently. The results showed that there was a lot of disagreement among the pathologists about how to grade the tumors, which is important because it can affect treatment decisions. Those who used a specific reference guide tended to classify more tumors as low grade, especially if the tumors were located under the skin or had certain cell features. This variation highlights the need for consistent grading practices among veterinarians.
Abstract
Ten veterinary pathologists at 1 veterinary institution independently assigned histologic grades to the same 60 canine cutaneous mast cell tumors (MCTs). There was significant variation among pathologists in grading the MCTs (P < 0.001). The probability of assigning a low grade was significantly higher for the pathologists in this study who use a published reference for histologic grading of canine cutaneous MCTs that allows subcutaneous MCTs or MCTs with mitotic figures to be included in the low-grade category (P < 0.0001 and P < 0.0001, respectively).
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15945380/