Retrospective and Prospective Analysis of Cardiac Neoplasms in Dogs: 50 Cases (2022-2025). Clinical Aspects, Diagnosis, Survival, and Literature Review.

Abstract

Cardiac neoplasms in dogs are uncommon pathologies, though clinically relevant due to their guarded prognosis. The present study consists of a retrospective and prospective analysis of 50 cases of cardiac neoplasms diagnosed in dogs between 2022 and 2025 at two referral hospitals in Gran Canaria. The primary objective was to provide updated data on the incidence, predisposing factors, diagnostic methods, and survival times of these tumors, comparing them with published literature in order to establish more effective clinical management and earlier diagnosis. Cases were classified according to different study variables such as mass location, breed, sex, age, survival, among others, and statistical analysis was performed. The results showed that the most frequent tumor locations were the right atrium and the heart base. Geriatric dogs between 11 and 13 years of age showed the highest incidence, and spayed females and mixed-breed dogs accounted for a large proportion of the cardiac neoplasm cases in this study. Echocardiography findings coincided with CT-based tumor localization in 73% of cases; therefore, echocardiographic evaluation proves to be a reliable diagnostic tool for the detection and anatomical localization of cardiac neoplasms. Survival times were longer in dogs with heart base masses, and access to treatment significantly influenced the prognosis of patients with these tumors