Canine Oral Malignant Melanoma

Epidemiology:
Canine Oral Malignant Melanoma (COMM) is a neoplasm of melanocytic cells The most frequently affected site is the oral cavity and COMM is the most common oral neoplasm in dogs. The affected sites include the gingiva, buccal or labial mucosa, hard or soft palate and tongue. COMM are often rapidly growing, locally invasive and potentially metastatic tumors. COMM have a high metastatic rate, which is reported at 70 to 90%. COMM are most often diagnosed in older dogs without gender predilection.

Classification: 
The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a scheme for classifying oral melanomas in humans, which was adapted for dogs. The classification of a tumor is based on: the anatomic site of the tumor, tumor size and tumor stage. Increasing stage tends to correlate with a worsening prognosis.

Materials and Methods:
VSSO Symposium 2016:During the VSSO symposium in Napa, California (2016), COMM was discussed. A pre-event electronic survey was sent to the VSSO listserv with questions pertaining to COMM and similar questions were reviewed during the meeting with live polling. During the VSSO discussion a maximum of 99 oncology interested veterinary surgeons, including diplomate specialists of the various colleges, were actively involved using live polling. All polling answers were recorded.  [...]