Ultrasongraphic evaluation by elastrography of locoregional lymph nodes in bicthes with breast neoplasm
Cancer, ultrasound, lymphatic chain
Mammary gland tumors are the most common neoplasmsdiagnosed in dogs, and there are still few studies related totheir epidemiology. Considering the need for noninvasive, accurate and risk-free identification of regional lymphnode metastases in female dogs, in addition to thepromising results found by previous elastography studiesin women, this study aims to evaluate and compare theaccuracy of B-mode Doppler and compressionelastography techniques for the diagnosis of metastases in axillary and inguinal lymph nodes in female dogs withmammary neoplasms. The study will be carried out at the“Mário Dias Teixeira” Veterinary Hospital of theUniversidade Federal Rural da Amazônia (UFRA), Campus Belém/PA, for selection of animals. Eachlymphatic structure will be evaluated using differentultrasonographic methods (B-mode, compressionelastography and color Doppler). Elastography will resultin images with a color scale (elastogram) that will beevaluated according to the deformity (deformable or non-deformable), according to bluish tones corresponding toless rigid tissues (soft) and reddish tones as more rigidtissues (hard). From the animals with mammary neoplasia, a total of 100 pairs of lymph nodes will be collected, 50 inguinal lymph nodes and 50 axillary lymph nodes fromeach animal after the mastectomy procedure, in addition tothe mammary chain for identification and classification ofthe tumor type. Static imaging will then be performed toconclude the data obtained.