Melanoma is one of the most lethal
skin neoplasms among
dogs and
cats, and its
incidence is increasing worldwide in the last years. The relation between the study of
tumor biology and epidemiologic data from melanocytic
tumors (
melanomas and melanocytomas) can help in the
achievement of an earlier and safer
clinical diagnosis.However, epidemiologic data for these
neoplasms are still rare in
Brazil. Thus, we performed a
retrospective study of melanocytic
neoplasms in
dogs and
cats registered at the
Animal Pathology Service of the
School of
Veterinary Medicine and
Animal Science (SVMAS),
University of São Paulo (USP), between January of 2000 and December of 2006. The epidemiological data extracted from
pathology records regarded affected
population (age,
gender,
hair color) and
tumor characteristics (anatomic
location and histological type). Of 2154 histopathological
reports analyzed 193 (8.9%) were melanocytic
neoplasms, of which 186 cases in
dogs (96.4%) and only 7 in
cats (3.6%).
Male dogs, of