Lesões esplênicas em cães: a esplenectomia é a única solução?

Abstract

Splenic lesions are common in routine practice, and the treatment of choice for most of them is splenectomy. This is because, in the vast majority of cases, the only complementary examination performed is ultrasonography. The objective of this research was to conduct a retrospective study of splenic lesions in dogs treated at the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Uberlândia (HOVET-UFU) from 2021 to 2024, to identify the nature of the lesions through analysis of histopathological data, as well as to determine the dogs' survival. An additional objective was to compare hematocrit values and platelet counts of dogs with malignant and benign lesions. Epidemiological (age, sex, breed, weight), clinicopathological (tumor size, time of evolution), hematocrit and platelet data, and clinical outcomes were obtained from medical records and information from the animals' owners. The dogs were followed up after splenectomy, and overall survival was determined. Fifty-nine dogs were selected, with 36 females (61%) and 23 males (39%), the majority (64%) being mixed-breed (SRD). A total of 72 splenic lesions were recorded, with 26 (38.5%) being malignant neoplasms and 45 (61.5%) benign lesions. The benign neoplastic lesions included six hemangiomas and only one leiomyoma, and there were 39 non-neoplastic lesions, the majority of which were hematomas (n=23; 51%). Among the malignant neoplasms, the majority was hemangiosarcoma (n=14; 54%). It was found that 34% of the dogs had hematocrit below the reference value, and 29% of the animals presented with both platelet and hematocrit values below the reference values. Animals with malignant lesions had lower hematocrit than animals with benign lesions (P=0.0320). Regarding platelets, there was no difference between animals with malignant or benign lesions (P=0.56). The mean survival time for dogs with benign lesions was 630 days and for dogs with malignant lesions was 296 days; however, there was no difference between the survival curves. Benign lesions, especially hematomas, occur with greater frequency in the spleen of dogs, and among malignant neoplasms, hemangiosarcoma is the most important. Hematological values are lower in dogs with malignant lesions, indicating that the complete blood count (CBC) can serve as an ancillary tool in the screening of these patients.