Clinicopathological study of canine oral epulides

To clarify the clinicopathological features of canine epulides, 189 epulides were reviewed retrospectively. The incidence of the fibromatous, ossifying, acanthomatous and giant cell epulides were 56.6% (107/189), 23.3% (44/189), 18.0% (34/189) and 2.1% (4/189), respectively. The average ages of dogs with fibromatous, ossifying, acanthomatous and giant cell epulides were 8.8, 8.4, 7.8 and 8.7 years, respectively. The male/female ratio of dogs with the acanthomatous epulis (0.8) was lower than those of dogs with the fibromatous (1.9), ossifying (1.4) and giant cell epulis (3.0). There were slight breed differences among the types of epulides. The most noticeable result was that 38.2% of the acanthomatous epulis occurred in Shetland sheepdogs. 43.9% of the fibromatous epulis and 52% of the ossifying epulides arose around maxillary premolars, while 58.8% of the acanthomatous epulis arose around the mandibular canines. Dogs with the fibromatous and ossifying epulides had more severe dental plaque deposition than those with the acanthomatous epulides. Few of the fibromatous (6/104) or ossifying epulides (4/44) showed recurrence after excision, while the majority (21/23) of the acanthomatous epulides showed rapid and repeated recurrences after surgical excision. Epulides treated with hemimandibulectomy or bleomycin chemotherapy did not recur. Giant cell epulides showed no recurrence after surgical removal. These results indicate that the acanthomatous epulis differed from other types of epulides in biological and morphological features and poor prognosis.