title: Abdominal ultrasonographic findings at diagnosis of osteosarcoma in dogs and association with treatment outcome.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to describe abdominal ultrasonographic findings present at diagnosis of osteosarcoma (OSA) in dogs and to investigate for associations with treatment outcome. Medical records from 118 dogs diagnosed with OSA that had abdominal ultrasonography performed as part of their initial evaluation were reviewed. Fifty-seven percent had ultrasonographic abnormalities identified. The organ with the highest frequency of ultrasonographic changes was the spleen. While most sonographic changes were considered to be either benign or of unknown clinical consequences, metastases were identified in three dogs (2.5%), two of which (1.7%) did not have other evidence of metastasis. Dogs with any ultrasonographic abnormality were less likely to receive definitive therapy (P = 0.005) and exhibited shorter survival, although the latter observation was not statistically significant (P = 0.071). However, the identification of lesions in either the liver (P = 0.021) or the kidney (P = 0.003) was statistically associated with shorter survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Center for Comparative Oncology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sacornrattana
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Dervisis
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: McNiel
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000818:Animals; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014463:Ultrasonography