Practical Veterinary Dermatopathology PDF

Preface

The process of learning dermatopathology is long and often bewildering. This book is designed to facilitate that process for the practitioner in small animal medicine, residents in veterinary pathology and dermatology training programs, veterinary students, and veterinary pathologists in general practice. The book is also designed to be used as an aid to interpretation of skin biopsy reports. We have included tables and lists to enable busy practitioners to reference selected material quickly and efficiently.

The section on biopsy collection techniques is designed to improve knowledge of sample collection, handling, and submission for the ultimate purpose of establishing a specific diagnosis or differential diagnoses list for a skin disorder, and to emphasize the critical role the clinical history plays in histopathologic lesion interpretation and in establishing a specific diagnosis by the dermatopathologist. Two relatively new techniques to veterinary dermatopathology, the nail bed (claw bed) punch biopsy technique and the pinnal shave biopsy technique, are described.

The section on clinical lesion morphology is designed to help correlate clinical and histologic lesions and help practitioners select the biopsy technique most likely to provide a diagnostic biopsy sample for a variety of clinical lesions (e.g., epidermal collarette, pustule, alopecia). The correlation of clinical and histologic lesions is extremely useful when formulating differential diagnoses lists and considering therapeutic options. It is a fundamental part of the learning of dermatology and dermatopathology.

The section on responses of the skin to injury is designed to explain the basic reaction of the different components of the skin to injury and to clarify or define terminology. This understanding is helpful when considering differential diagnoses, establishing a diagnosis and prognosis, and in the formulation of treatment regimes. The terminology used in dermatopathology is somewhat unique and the definitions will assist the general practitioner in the interpretation of biopsy reports and in communication with pathologists. The more experienced reader will recognize that we do not refer to the responses of the skin to injury as patterns. The reason to discuss responses of the skin to injury is that understanding the responses to injury is a first step in understanding patterns. For those interested in learning more about pattern terminology, we refer the reader to the following textbooks listed in the suggested readings section (Gross et al, Yager and Wilcock, Ackerman, Elder et al, and Hood et al).

The section on neoplasia is designed to provide a brief reference to help interpret biopsy reports and simply categorize neoplastic and non-neoplastic tumor-like lesions. Terminology and behavior of the basic categories of benign and malignant primary tumors of the skin are included. Tumor-like lesions are listed separately to differentiate them from tumors, to provide names and synonyms, and to provide basic definitions to aid in differential diagnoses of nodular lesions. The authors have largely based their terminology on the World Health Organization publications entitled, "Histological Classification of Epithelial and Melanocytic Tumors of the Skin of Domestic Animals" and "Histological Classification of Mesenchymal Tumors of Skin and Soft Tissues of Domestic Animals.

The section on laboratory techniques describes the basic laboratory procedures of sample processing, sectioning, and staining.

The glossary is designed to provide practitioners with easy access to definitions of terms often used in dermatopathology, and to illustrate a few of the potentially confusing lesions.

The section on differential diagnosis of clinical lesions is provided to help practitioners formulate clinical differential diagnoses based on clinical lesions and anatomic distribution patterns.

The appendices are designed to provide a biopsy submission form and sources for supplies useful in biopsy collection and handling. The case reviews illustrate how this book can be used to facilitate mananging the biopsy sampling process, formulation of clinical differential diagnoses, and pathology report interpretation.