Applicazione della classificazione National Health Service Breast Screening Pathology (NHSBSP) nella comparazione cito-istologica dei tumori mammari della cagna = NHSBSP classification use in the correlation of canine mammary tumour cytology and histopathology

Canine mammary tumours (CMT) are the most common neoplasia in bitches. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is
a fast and inexpensive technique well-tolerated by animals. Few reports have shown how difficult cytological diagnosis
of CMT is and how difficult benign or malignant tumours are to classify using FNAC. Cytological diagnosis has often
been inconclusive in veterinary pathology. In the diagnosis of human breast cancer, FNAC efficacy is beyond doubt due
to its high specificity. In this preliminary study, our aim is to evaluate the efficacy of NHSBSP classification, applied to
CMT. Secondly, we wish to test the usefulness of H&H stain in FNAC for CMT diagnosis. 75 FNAC specimens, from
41 dogs with mammary tumours were examined. 72/75 underwent the NHSBSP classification Histological examination
of the tumours was performed in each case for comparison purposes. All the CMTs fell under the five categories: C1 (3
cases), C2 (7 cases), C3 (38 cases), C4 (15 cases), C5 (9 cases). As regards H&H staining in our view it was more
efficacious than M.G.G. staining in distinguishing morphological cell details. Our results showed that the NHSBSP
classification gave a 94.4% correspondence level between cytological and histological findings.