Open AccessPerformance of lymph node cytopathology in diagnosis and characterization of lymphoma in dogs
Author(s) -
Martini Valeria,
Marano Giuseppe,
Aresu Luca,
Bonfanti Ugo,
Boracchi Patrizia,
Caniatti Mario,
Cian Francesco,
Gambini Matteo,
Marconato Laura,
Masserdotti Carlo,
Nicoletti Arturo,
Riondato Fulvio,
Roccabianca Paola,
Stefanello Damiano,
Teske Erik,
Comazzi Stefano
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of veterinary internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.356
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1939-1676
pISSN - 0891-6640
DOI - 10.1111/jvim.16326
Subject(s) - cytopathology , medicine , lymphoma , histopathology , pathology , hematopathology , lymph node , immunophenotyping , b cell lymphoma , cytology , flow cytometry , biology , immunology , cytogenetics , biochemistry , chromosome , gene
Background Cytopathology is a minimally invasive and convenient diagnostic procedure, often used as a substitute for histopathology to diagnose and characterize lymphoma in dogs. Objectives Assess the diagnostic performance of cytopathology in diagnosing lymphoma and its histopathological subtypes in dogs. Animals One‐hundred and sixty‐one lymph node samples from 139 dogs with enlarged peripheral lymph nodes. Methods Based only on cytopathology, 6 examiners independently provided the following interpretations on each sample: (a) lymphoma vs nonlymphoma; (b) grade and phenotype; and (c) World Health Organization (WHO) histopathological subtype. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC) findings were used as reference standards to evaluate diagnostic performance of cytopathology. Clinical, clinicopathologic, and imaging data also were considered in the definitive diagnosis. Results Classification accuracy for lymphoma consistently was >80% for all examiners, whereas it was >60% for low grade T‐cell lymphomas, >30% for high grade B‐cell lymphomas, >20% for high grade T‐cell lymphomas, and <40% for low grade B‐cell lymphomas. Interobserver agreement evaluated by kappa scores was 0.55 and 0.32 for identification of lymphoma cases, and of grade plus immunophenotype, respectively. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Cytopathology may result in accurate diagnosis of lymphoma, but accuracy decreases when further characterization is needed. Cytopathology represents a fundamental aid in identifying lymphoma and can be used as a screening test to predict grade and phenotype. However, these results must be confirmed using other ancillary techniques, including flow cytometry, histopathology, and immunohistochemistry (IHC).