Brønden et al. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 2010, 52:6 http://www.actavetscand.com/content/52/1/6 R E S E A R C H Open Access Mast cell tumours and other skin neoplasia in Danish dogs - data from the Danish Veterinary Cancer Registry Louise B Brønden, Thomas Eriksen*, Annemarie T Kristensen Abstract Background: The Danish Veterinary Cancer Registry (DVCR) was established in May 2005 to gather information about neoplasms in the Danish dog and cat populations. Practitioners from more than 60 clinics throughout Denmark have submitted data on these species. The objectives of the current study were, with a special focus on mast cell tumours (MCT) to investigate the occurrence, gender distribution, biological behaviour, locations, types, the diagnostic method used and treatment of skin neoplasms in dogs based on information reported to the DVCR. Methods: From May 15th 2005 through February 29th 2008, reports on a total of 1,768 canine cases of neoplasia in the skin, subcutis or adnexa were submitted.) Of these, 765 cases (43%) were confirmed by cytology or histopathology. Results: The majority of dogs had a benign neoplasm (66%) while 21% were cases of malignant neoplasia. The most commonly encountered malignant neoplasms were MCT and soft tissue sarcomas and for benign neoplasms, lipomas and histiocytomas were the most common. The location of the neoplasms were primarily in the cutis, subcutis or in the perianal region. The occurrence, gender distribution, biological behaviour and location of canine skin neoplasias in Denmark were similar to earlier reports, although some national variations occurred. A correlation between grade of MCT and the proportion of cases treated surgically was observed. Conclusions: Population based cancer registries like the DVCR are of importance in the collection of non-selected primary information about occurrence and distribution of neoplasms. The DVCR provides detailed information on cases of skin neoplasms in dogs and may serve as a platform for the study of sub-sets of neoplastic diseases (e.g. MCT) or subgroups of the canine population (e.g. a specific breed). Introduction The skin is the most common anatomical location of neoplasms and holds between 9.5% and 51% of all tumours in dogs [1-5]. A wide range of tumour types can be found in the skin, subcutaneous tissue and adnexa. However in most studies, the majority of the neoplasms in the skin were diagnosed as benign, e.g. adenomas and lipomas. Diagnosis of skin tumours usually includes evaluation of cells using cytology and in cases where a biopsy is taken, histopathology. Furthermore a search for * Correspondence: ter@life.ku.dk Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Dyrlægevej 16, 1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark metastases is warranted. This approach is aimed at grad- ing and staging the neoplastic disease. Treatment of skin neoplasms, in particular malignant tumours, can be challenging. The treatment of choice in most cases includes surgical excision but depend on the type of cancer, stage, grade, and location. In some cases radiation or chemotherapy may be used alone or as adjunctive therapy of malignant neoplasms. This is typi- cally the case in chemosensitive neoplasms in tumours that readily metastasise to distant locations or if com- plete resection can not be achieved e.g. distally on limbs or in the head. Mast cell tumours (MCT), the most common skin cancer, represents a particular diagnostic and surgical challenge due to the high degree of behavioural variabil- ity from seemingly benign to highly malignant [6-8]. © 2010 Brønden et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.