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Comparative Study
. 2024 May;27(3):266-276.
doi: 10.1111/vop.13187. Epub 2024 Jan 25.

Clinicopathologic profiles of canine ocular melanosis: A comparative study between cairn terriers and non-cairn terriers

J Seth Eaton  1 , Sanskruti S Potnis  1 , Alexis Cavanaugh  1 , Cody A Davis  2 , Leandro B C Teixeira  3 , Gillian C Shaw  3
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Clinicopathologic profiles of canine ocular melanosis: A comparative study between cairn terriers and non-cairn terriers

J Seth Eaton et al. Vet Ophthalmol. 2024 May.

Abstract

Objectives: To identify canine breeds at risk for ocular melanosis and to compare the clinical and histologic features between affected Cairn Terriers (CTs) and non-Cairn Terriers (NCTs).

Design: Relative risk (RR) analysis and retrospective cohort study of dogs histologically diagnosed with ocular melanosis.

Procedures: The COPLOW archive was searched for globe submissions diagnosed with ocular melanosis. Six hundred fifty globes were included, and RR analysis was performed to identify at-risk NCT breeds. A cohort of 360 CT and NCT globes diagnosed from 2013 to 2023 were included in the retrospective cohort study. Clinical data were collected from submission forms, medical records, and follow-up surveys. One hundred fifty-seven submissions underwent masked histologic review. Immunohistochemical staining for CD204 was performed to determine the predominance of melanophages in affected uvea from five NCTs.

Results: At-risk NCT breeds included the Boxer, Labrador Retriever, and French Bulldog. Glaucoma was the reported reason for enucleation in 79.4% of submissions. At enucleation, clinical features less prevalent in NCTs than CTs included pigmentary abnormalities in the contralateral eye (33.7% vs. 63.1%, p = .0008) and abnormal episcleral/scleral pigmentation in the enucleated globe (25.4% vs. 53.6%, p = .0008). Histologic involvement of the episclera was also less frequent in NCTs than in CTs (39.7% vs. 76.9%, p = .008). Concurrent melanocytic neoplasms arising in melanosis were more common in NCTs (24.4%) than CTs (3.9%). Melanophages were not predominant in any samples evaluated immunohistochemically.

Conclusions: Several popular NCT breeds carry risk for ocular melanosis, and some clinicopathologic disease features may differ from those described in CTs.

Keywords: glaucoma; melanocyte; melanocytoma; melanosis; pigment; uvea.

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References

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