Epidemiologie, clinical, pathologic, and prognostic characteristics of splenic hemangiosarcoma and splenic hematoma in dogs: 217 cases (1985)

Abstract

Summary Data on age, sex, and breed were obtained from surgical pathologic records of 92 dogs with splenic hemangiosarcoma ( shs ) and for 125 dogs with splenic hematoma ( sha ) diagnosed in 1985 at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. Further information on body weight, clinical and surgical findings, and survival time was obtained for 59 dogs (64.1 %) with shs and 91 dogs (72.8%) with sha . Splenic hemangiosarcoma was markedly more common in dogs 8 to 13 years old, and sha was appreciably more common in dogs ≥ 8 years old, compared with dogs 1 to 7 years old. Compared with sexually intact females, only spayed females were at significantly (odds ratio [ or ], 2.2; 95% confidence interval [ ci ], 1.2 to 4.1) increased risk for developing shs ; sex predisposition was not found for dogs with sha . The German Shepherd Dog was the only breed with increased risk for development of either shs ( or , 4.7; 95% ci , 2.7 to 7.8) or sha ( or , 2.8; 95% ci , 1.7 to 4.9), compared with all other purebred dogs. Association of tumor type for 7 commonly reported clinical signs with observance of hemoperitoneum at surgery was determined; anorexia ( P = 0.01), collapse ( P = 0.01), and hemoperitoneum ( P <0.001) were significantly more common in dogs with shs . The median survival time for dogs with shs was 19 days, compared with 338 days for dogs with sha ( P <0.001). Twelve factors were analyzed to determine their relationship to survival, and 3 were associated with significantly worse prognosis: lethargy ( P = 0.002) and anorexia ( P = 0.04) in dogs with sha and hemoperitoneum ( P = 0.02) in dogs with shs .