1392 Scientific Reports JAVMA, Vol 242, No. 10, May 15, 2013 SMALL ANIMALS N early half of lingual lesions are neoplastic, although lingual neoplasia in dogs is rare overall. 1 The veteri- nary literature describing lingual neoplasia is primarily limited to case reports and case series, and outcome data in dogs with lingual neoplasia remain poorly described. One retrospective study 2 of lingual tumors identified squamous cell carcinoma as the most common lingual neoplasia diagnosed. This differs from a more recent re- port 1 of lingual lesions that indicates that melanomas and squamous cell carcinoma account for 23% and 17% of lin- Results of surgical excision and evaluation of factors associated with survival time in dogs with lingual neoplasia: 97 cases (1995–2008) William T. N. Culp, VMD, DACVS; Nicole Ehrhart, VMD, DACVS; Stephen J. Withrow, DVM, DACVS, DACVIM; Robert B. Rebhun, DVM, DACVIM; Sarah Boston, DVM, DVSc, DACVS; Paolo Buracco, DVM; Alexander M. Reiter, Dr med vet, DAVDC; Sandra P. Schallberger, Dr med vet, DACVS; Charles F. Aldridge, DVM; Michael S. Kent, DVM, DACVR, DACVIM; Philipp D. Mayhew, BVM&S, DACVS; Dorothy C. Brown, DVM, DACVS Objective—To describe the clinical characteristics, treatments, outcomes, and factors as- sociated with survival time in a cohort of dogs with lingual neoplasia that underwent surgi- cal excision. Design—Retrospective case series. Animals—97 client-owned dogs. Procedures—Medical records of dogs with a lingual tumor examined between 1995 and 2008 were reviewed. Records were included if a lingual tumor was confirmed by histologic examination and surgical excision of the mass was attempted. Data were recorded and analyzed to identify prognostic factors. Results—Clinical signs were mostly related to the oral cavity. For 93 dogs, marginal exci- sion, subtotal glossectomy, and near-total glossectomy were performed in 35 (38%), 55 (59%), and 3 (3%), respectively. Surgery-related complications were rare, but 27 (28%) dogs had tumor recurrence. The most common histopathologic diagnoses for the 97 dogs were squamous cell carcinoma (31 [32%]) and malignant melanoma (29 [30%]). Eighteen (19%) dogs developed metastatic disease, and the overall median survival time was 483 days. Median survival time was 216 days for dogs with squamous cell carcinoma and 241 days for dogs with malignant melanoma. Dogs with lingual tumors ≥ 2 cm in diameter at diagnosis had a significantly shorter survival time than did dogs with tumors < 2 cm. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Similar to previous studies, results indicated that lingual tumors are most commonly malignant, and squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma predominate. A thorough physical examination to identify lingual tumors at an early stage and surgical treatment after tumor identification are recommended because tumor size significantly affected survival time. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2013;242:1392–1397) gual tumors in dogs, respectively. Additionally, a study by Syrcle et al 3 found that malignant melanomas accounted for 25% of the lingual neoplasia cases described. A wide variety of other tumor types has been reported, including sarcomas and round cell tumors. In 2 previous reports, 1,3 64% of lingual tumors were malignant. From the Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616 (Culp, Rebhun, Kent, Mayhew); the Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 (Ehrhart, Withrow); the Department of Clinical Studies, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1H 3N2, Canada (Boston); the Department of Animal Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Turin, 10095 Turin, Italy (Buracco); the Department of Clinical Studies-Philadelphia, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadel- phia, PA 19104 (Reiter, Brown); the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608 (Schallberger); and the Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 (Aldridge). Dr. Schallberger’s present address is Department of Small Animal Surgery, Tierklinik Thun-Süd, Burgerstrasse 11, Thun, Switzerland. Dr. Aldridge’s present address is Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849. Presented in abstract form at the 29th Annual Veterinary Cancer Society Conference, Austin, Tex, October 2009. The authors thank Drs. Richard Walshaw, Julius Liptak, Maura O’Brien, Maurine Thompson, Stefan Scharvogel, Mark Rochat, Rowan Milner, and Craig Clifford for assistance. Address correspondence to Dr. Culp (wculp@ucdavis.edu). ABBREVIATION MST Median survival time