Clinical signs of tumors affecting the rostral cerebrum in 43 dogs

The clinical and pathologic features of 43 dogs with neoplasia of the rostral cerebrum were reviewed. Primary brain tumors included meningioma, astrocytoma, neuroblastoma, oligodendroglioma, and ependymoma. Other tumors that secondarily affected these areas included solitary hemangiosarcoma, nasal neuroendocrine carcinoma, nasal cell adenocarcinoma, nasal squamous cell carcinoma, and nasal neurofibrosarcoma. Older dogs were usually affected (mean, 10 years), and meningioma was the most frequent tumor type. Thirty-one dogs (72% of total) had a late-onset (greater than 5 years of age) of either generalized seizures or behavior abnormalities, or both, with an initially normal neurologic examination. In these 31 dogs, a mean time of 78 days (range, 2 to 400 days) elapsed from the onset of seizures or behavior change to the detection of a persistently abnormal neurologic examination. In all 43 dogs, the time from the detection of neurologic deficits to death or euthanasia and necropsy ranged from 1 to 63 days (mean, 13 days). On the basis of this review, it appears that dogs with late-onset seizures or behavior change, or both, should be suspected of having tumors involving the rostral cerebrum, despite the absence of persistent neurologic deficits commonly associated with cerebral tumors. Further, the onset of abnormalities in the neurologic examination and the time of death seem to occur within predictable time periods.