Preoperative Clinical Predictors of Histologic Malignancy and Carcinoma Grade in 286 Canine Mammary Nodules from 92 Bitches: A Retrospective Study

Canine mammary tumours often present as multiple synchronous nodules, necessitating decisions regarding staging intensity and surgical planning prior to histology. We developed two preoperative nodule-level prediction models using only the medical history and physical examination of client-owned bit...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fuertes Recuero, Manuel, García San José, Paula, Valdivia Lara, Edgar Guillermo, Suarez-Redondo, María, Penelo Hidalgo, Silvia, Arenillas Baquero, Mario, Camacho-Alonso, Laura, Peña Fernández, Laura Luisa, Pérez Alenza, María De Los Dolores, Ortiz Díez, Gustavo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/133202
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/133202
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:616-006.64-092.18
Canine mammary tumours
Clustered data
Logistic regression
Histological grade
Histological malignancy
Prediction model
Preoperative clinical predictors
Patología veterinaria
3109 Ciencias Veterinarias
3109.07 Patología
Descripción
Sumario:Canine mammary tumours often present as multiple synchronous nodules, necessitating decisions regarding staging intensity and surgical planning prior to histology. We developed two preoperative nodule-level prediction models using only the medical history and physical examination of client-owned bitches with mammary disease, which were staged using the WHO-modified TNM system with a M0 classification (no distant metastasis) at the time of presentation. This retrospective study analysed 286 surgically excised mammary nodules from 92 dogs managed under a standardised mammary oncology protocol; those with inflammatory mammary carcinoma or distant metastasis were excluded. The outcomes were (i) malignant versus benign/non-neoplastic histology (for all nodules) and (ii) intermediate/high histologic grade (II-III versus I) among carcinomas. Separate multivariable Firth penalised logistic regression models accounted for within-dog clustering with dog-level bootstrap internal validation. Multiple imputation was used in a sensitivity analysis for missingness in the detection-to-surgery interval. Malignancy was confirmed in 87/286 (30.4%) of the nodules (86 carcinomas), including 35/87 (40.2%) that measured less than 1 cm. Among complete cases (153 nodules), malignancy was associated with age at neutering, maximum tumour diameter, owner-reported rapid growth and a detection-to-surgery interval of more than 3.5 months (an exploratory ROC-derived threshold) with good discrimination (area under the curve (AUC) 0.805; optimism-corrected 0.799) and acceptable calibration. Among carcinomas (83 specimen), previous mammary tumours, bloody nipple discharge and fewer synchronous nodules were associated with intermediate/high malignancy grade (AUC 0.859). Sensitivity analyses yielded directionally consistent estimates. Routinely available clinical information may provide interpretable preoperative risk stratification to support staging and surgical planning, pending external validation