title: Prognostic studies of canine and feline mammary tumours: the need for standardized procedures.
abstract: For several years, veterinary oncologists have been struggling with the prognosis of mammary tumours in dogs and cats. Translation of tumour characteristics into prognostic information is an invaluable tool for the use of the most appropriate therapies, as well as for planning innovative therapeutic trials. Moreover, canine and feline spontaneous mammary gland tumours are good models for the study of human breast cancer. Collecting and interpreting information regarding the prognosis of canine and feline mammary tumours is difficult due to the fact that different methods have been applied to study various components and characteristics. This review identifies some of the challenges of prognostic studies of spontaneous canine and feline mammary tumours and suggests standardized procedures to overcome these challenges and facilitate reproducibility and assessment of results.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, Portugal. ajmatos@icbas.up.pt
authors.forename: A J F
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Matos
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Baptista
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Gärtner
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Rutteman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D002415:Cats; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D015674:Mammary Neoplasms, Animal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014730:Veterinary Medicine / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*