Yesterday (March 10^th 2021) Canine Medicine and Genetics published research, led by the University of Bristol, which showed that a dog’s body size and shape could indicate a greater risk of osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma is a painful and aggressive bone tumour in dogs that is known to be more common in certain breeds than others.

Sam Beck, Laboratory Director at the Veterinary Pathology Group’s (VPG) histology laboratory, supported this research by providing anonymised data on 1,756 of our appendicular and axial osteosarcoma cases between 2008 and 2020, as well as veterinary clinical and demographic data from pathology records.

Contributions were also made by Cardiff University, the Bristol Veterinary School, Langford Veterinary Services, Bristol Cancer Institute and the Royal Veterinary College.

The research confirmed that larger dog breeds, such as the Rottweiler, Great Dane and Rhodesian Ridgeback, all have a greater risk of osteosarcoma and that breeds with shorter skulls and legs have a lower risk of developing osteosarcoma.

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For all tumour submissions, VPG provides full evaluation of surgical margins and we were subsumed in developing the ACVP recommendations for biopsy evaluation that are considered the ‘gold standard’ in pathology practice.

 VPG|Histology, formerly ‘Bridge Pathology’, is a dynamic veterinary histopathology and immunohistochemistry laboratory based in Bristol, dedicated to the provision of the highest quality diagnostic pathology services to the veterinary community. Contact us today on 0117 951 1283 or by emailing [email protected].