Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.24099/vet.arhiv.0834

Prevalence of pathological lesions diagnosed by cytology in cats, with association of diagnosis to age, breed and gender

Doroteja Huber ; Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Tonka Ristevski ; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia, student
Andrea Gudan Kurilj ; Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Maja Maurić ; Department for Animal Breeding and Livestock Production, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Lidija Medven Zagradišnik ; Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Marko Hohšteter ; Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Ivan-Conrado Šoštarić-Zuckermann ; Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Cytology is the diagnostic procedure of the microscopic evaluation of cells. It is becoming increasingly important and more frequently used in veterinary diagnostics, having many advantages including simplicity, speed and low cost. To determine the pathological changes diagnosed by cytology in cats, as well as the distribution of age, breed and gender in the diagnosed changes, we performed a retrospective study on slides submitted to the Department of Veterinary Pathology for routine cytological examination. The archive was searched for all feline cytology slides submitted from 2009 to 2018. All the slides were re-evaluated and classified into one of the four pathological processes: ‘neoplasia’, ‘inflammation’, ‘other condition’ or ‘non-diagnostic sample’. Breed, age, gender and the tissue from which the lesion was sampled were noted from the submission form, and statistically analyzed. The most frequent type of pathological process diagnosed was neoplasia, which reflects the high prevalence of neoplastic diseases in cats reported in literature data. Pathological changes were mostly diagnosed in domestic shorthaired cats of both sexes, with an average age of 8.4 years, but no breed, age or gender predisposition was found. The most evaluated tissue was skin, probably due to its accessibility and the ease of obtaining a sample from skin lesions. The most frequent neoplasia were malignant and the most frequent diagnosis was round cell neoplasia. Cats affected with round cell neoplasia had a significantly lower average age (7.3 years) than cats diagnosed with epithelial and mesenchymal neoplasia (9.9 and 10.3 years, respectively), probably reflecting the common retroviral infection in Croatian cats.

Keywords

diagnostic cytology; cat; neoplasia; inflammation; epidemiology

Hrčak ID:

258464

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/258464

Publication date:

8.6.2021.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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