Surgical Pathology of Tumors of Domestic Animals

Book excerpt: This is the third edition of the International Histologic Classification of Tumors of Soft Tissues of Domestic Animals. The original was published in 1974 by the World Health Organization and authored by E. Weiss and K. Frese. The second edition was published in 1998 and authored by M. J. Hendrick, E. A. Mahaffey, F. M. Moore, J. H. Vos and E. J. Walder and edited by F. Y. Schulman. Over the last 4 decades it has become clear that many tumor entities are unique for different animal species, and a simple adaptation of the WHO classification of human tumors to animal tumors would not be sufficient to provide an accurate diagnosis and prognosis for tumors in domestic animals. While comparative pathology is still an integral part of veterinary tumor pathology, even entities that are morphologically similar between humans and other animals may have a different immunophenotype, different biological behavior or a different response to various therapies. This third series will, therefore, be titled "Surgical Pathology of Tumors of Domestic Animals" and will now be published by the Davis-Thompson Foundation. The third volume of this series covers tumors of soft tissue. In contrast to humans, soft tissue neoplasms encompass some of the most common neoplastic entities in dogs and cats. Included in this volume are fibrous, adipocytic, vascular and perivascular, striated and smooth muscle, mesothelial, synovial and nerve sheath tumors, as well as extraskeletal chondro-osseous tumors. Tumors of cartilage and bone will be covered in the fourth volume of this series, and round cell neoplasms will be addressed in the volume of this series dedicated to hematopoietic neoplasms. In contrast to previous versions, this volume will also contain information on differential diagnoses and prognosis for each tumor entity as well as cytology. The focus of this series will be on tumors in dogs and cats and, to a lesser degree, horses. Neoplasms in domestic livestock are rare and will only be addressed when unique entities require special mention. Similarly, tumors in ferrets, as the third most common pet, will be included.