Prevalence of Malignancy in German Shepherd Dogs Compared to Other Breeds Presented with Nontraumatic Hemoperitoneum

Introduction
Hemoperitoneum is a frequent reason for presentation in the emergency setting, and the spleen is the most frequent source of bleeding (1). there is interest in providing tools to predict malignancy of splenic masses, but so far no one has been able to dis- criminate accurately between malignant and benign lesions (1-7). it has been described that approximately 70-80% of dogs with splenic lesions and hemoperitoneum have malignant neoplasias (4,8), but it is the authors’ impression that these numbers are underestimating the frequency of malignant neoplasia, especially hemangiosarcoma (HSa), in the German shepherd (GSD) population. the aim of the study was to retrospec- tively evaluate dogs presenting with hemoperitoneum caused by a splenic lesion, and compare the frequency of diagnoses depending on the breed.

Material and Methods
The database was searched for dogs with hemoperitoneum and splenic lesions causing the bleeding. Dogs were grouped as GSD or other breeds and histopathological diagnoses were compared.

Results and conclusions
Sixty-two dogs entered the study, including 29 GSD and 32 dogs of other breeds. from the 29 GSD, 26 (89.7%) had malignant lesions (24 HSa, 2 metastasis of an adenocarci- noma) and 3 (10.3%) had benign lesions (2 hematomas, 1 necrosis). from the 32 dogs of other breeds, 21 (63.6%) had malignant lesions (19 HSa, 2 lymphosarcoma) and 12 (36.4%) had benign lesions (9 hematomas, 3 splenic torsions). the difference in fre- quency of malignancy in GSD compared to other breeds was statistically significant (p=0.017). there was also a significant difference between the frequency of HSa (p=0.03) and hematomas (p=0.036). the results of this study support the hypothesis that GSD are diagnosed more frequently with a malignancy, especially HSa, when presented for acute nontraumatic hemoperitoneum of splenic origin than other breeds. appropriate communication with the owners is warranted so that an informed decision can be made.