H. Steven Steinberg, VMD, DACVIM
For the past thirty years the veterinary literature has been hampered by small numbers of cases even in the best-designed scientific studies. Every month we read of questions raised about human medical research where thousands of individuals have been included and yet we have been at the mercy of the results of veterinary studies in which rarely more than 30 individuals have been the basis of the study.
Individual institutions usually don't generate enough consistent cases in large enough quantities to solve this problem and only by applying collated data collected cooperatively is veterinary medicine going to address this issue.
The Vet Cancer Registry is a web based (www.vetcancerregistry.com) data collection point for confirmed veterinary cancer cases. Cases have been registered from all over the world and only those cases with confirmed diagnoses are accepted into the database. This service is totally free and has been developed to be user friendly. There are currently more than 7600 cases on the website and cases are being added at a rate of about 12-18 per week. The website is recording about 2000 to 4000 hits per day. There are 5,718 dogs and 1,959 cats registered at this time in the registry.
Although the data are of a general nature, by looking at thousands of cases at one time one can notice trends that would not be evident in evaluating only a handful of cases. The search format is extremely interactive and allows for creative pursuits that are left to the imagination of the investigator. There is also a mechanism to query case submitters and to encourage collaboration among researchers.
We can associate the popularity of various dog breeds with the collected data from the Vet Cancer Registry by breed. In the following figure the top 50 dog breeds are listed with the number of individuals registered by breed according to published data from 2002 for the AKC. This table denotes trends where various dog breeds are over or under represented based on number of cancer cases reported in the registry in relation to popularity based on AKC registration. These kinds of trends are rarely used when a popular breed is noted to be susceptible for a specific disease in an institution's population. For example, Labrador Retrievers are by far the most popular breed, yet they are only number 13, among the top 50 breeds, in dogs most affected by cancer in cases registered in the Vet Cancer Registry. Similarly Chinese Shar-Peis are 39th in popularity according to the AKC but 16th , among the top 50 breeds, in dogs reported to have cancer in the Vet Cancer Registry.
Even this most simple study starts to reveal trends that as with all scientific endeavors raise more questions than they answer. Only by attaining significant numbers, will we obtain the knowledge to truly recognize incidence and treatment response trends.
|
Breed |
Number Registered |
Rank by Number Registered |
Percent of Total Registered |
Number with Cancer |
Rank by Number with Cancer |
Percent of Total with Cancer |
|
Mixed Breed |
|
|
|
1150 |
1 |
20.11% |
|
Labrador Retrievers |
154,616 |
1 |
17.46% |
74 |
13 |
1.29% |
|
Golden Retrievers |
56,124 |
2 |
6.34% |
561 |
2 |
9.81% |
|
German Shepherd Dogs |
46,963 |
3 |
5.30% |
197 |
3 |
3.45% |
|
Beagles |
44,610 |
4 |
5.04% |
105 |
10 |
1.84% |
|
Dachshunds |
42,571 |
5 |
4.81% |
71 |
14 |
1.24% |
|
Yorkshire Terriers |
37,277 |
6 |
4.21% |
43 |
21 |
0.75% |
|
Boxers |
34,340 |
7 |
3.88% |
155 |
5 |
2.71% |
|
Poodles |
33,917 |
8 |
3.83% |
178 |
4 |
3.11% |
|
Chihuahuas |
28,466 |
9 |
3.21% |
18 |
38 |
0.31% |
|
Shih Tzu |
28,294 |
10 |
3.20% |
86 |
12 |
1.50% |
|
Miniature Schnauzers |
23,926 |
11 |
2.70% |
105 |
11 |
1.84% |
|
Pomeranians |
23,061 |
12 |
2.60% |
10 |
45 |
0.17% |
|
Rottweilers |
22,196 |
13 |
2.51% |
143 |
6 |
2.50% |
|
Pugs |
21,774 |
14 |
2.46% |
32 |
24 |
0.56% |
|
Cocker Spaniels |
20,655 |
15 |
2.33% |
125 |
8 |
2.19% |
|
Shetland Sheepdogs |
17,453 |
16 |
1.97% |
140 |
7 |
2.45% |
|
Boston Terriers |
15,983 |
17 |
1.81% |
52 |
20 |
0.91% |
|
Bulldogs |
15,810 |
18 |
1.79% |
34 |
23 |
0.59% |
|
Miniature Pinschers |
15,230 |
19 |
1.72% |
1 |
51 |
0.02% |
|
Maltese |
13,049 |
20 |
1.47% |
25 |
32 |
0.44% |
|
Siberian Huskies |
12,350 |
21 |
1.39% |
58 |
18 |
1.01% |
|
German Shorthaired Pointers |
12,174 |
22 |
1.37% |
25 |
33 |
0.44% |
|
Doberman Pinschers |
11,829 |
23 |
1.34% |
124 |
9 |
2.17% |
|
Basset Hounds |
10,789 |
24 |
1.22% |
60 |
17 |
1.05% |
|
Welsh Corgis (Pembroke) |
9,921 |
25 |
1.12% |
26 |
31 |
0.45% |
|
Bichon Frises |
9,706 |
26 |
1.10% |
20 |
37 |
0.35% |
|
English Springer Spaniel |
9,128 |
27 |
1.03% |
24 |
36 |
0.42% |
|
Great Danes |
8,975 |
28 |
1.01% |
29 |
28 |
0.51% |
|
Weimaraners |
8,774 |
29 |
0.99% |
25 |
34 |
0.44% |
|
Brittanys |
7,846 |
30 |
0.89% |
41 |
22 |
0.72% |
|
West Highland Terriers |
7,814 |
31 |
0.88% |
55 |
19 |
0.96% |
|
Collies |
6,252 |
32 |
0.71% |
32 |
25 |
0.56% |
|
Pekingese |
5,822 |
33 |
0.66% |
8 |
47 |
0.14% |
|
Mastiffs |
5,797 |
34 |
0.65% |
12 |
41 |
0.21% |
|
Australian Shepherds |
5,789 |
35 |
0.65% |
31 |
26 |
0.54% |
|
Lhasa Apsos |
5,259 |
36 |
0.59% |
30 |
27 |
0.52% |
|
Saint Bernards |
5,188 |
37 |
0.59% |
5 |
49 |
0.09% |
|
Papillons |
4,547 |
38 |
0.51% |
4 |
50 |
0.07% |
|
Chinese Shar-Pei |
4,437 |
39 |
0.50% |
61 |
16 |
1.07% |
|
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel |
4,028 |
40 |
0.45% |
6 |
48 |
0.10% |
|
Akitas |
3,987 |
41 |
0.45% |
10 |
46 |
0.17% |
|
Chesapeake Bay Retriever |
3,829 |
42 |
0.43% |
15 |
39 |
0.26% |
|
Cairn terriers |
3,812 |
43 |
0.43% |
29 |
29 |
0.51% |
|
Scottish terriers |
3,516 |
44 |
0.40% |
71 |
15 |
1.24% |
|
Newfoundlands |
3,121 |
45 |
0.35% |
11 |
42 |
0.19% |
|
Vizslas |
3,106 |
46 |
0.35% |
25 |
35 |
0.44% |
|
Bullmastiffs |
2,900 |
47 |
0.33% |
15 |
40 |
0.26% |
|
Airdale Terriers |
2,841 |
48 |
0.32% |
29 |
30 |
0.51% |
|
Bloodhounds |
2,804 |
49 |
0.32% |
11 |
43 |
0.19% |
|
Great Pyrenees |
2,773 |
50 |
0.31% |
11 |
44 |
0.19% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Totals |
885,429 |
|
|
4208 |
|
73.59% |