A heat diffusion tool for canine dermal and subcutaneous mass screening

Photo: Petra Richli/Adobe Stock

In the Fetch dvm360 conference session “A New Category of Care: A Practitioner's Guide to Proactive, Noninvasive Screening of Lumps and Bumps”—available on-demand through dvm360 Flex—Natalie Marks, DVM, CVJ, CCFP, Elite FFC-V, discussed a product using heat diffusion technology. The tool offers a noninvasive way to scan for dermal and subcutaneous masses and is for use in dogs only.

The technology can aid in detecting malignant tissue and providing guidance on next steps, as well as help with surgical planning, noted Marks. However, it is not a replacement for fine needle aspirates. “This [technology] is to guide where we use cytology because cytology is still necessary. We need cytology for dermatology. We need cytology, of course, to analyze lumps and fluids and all kinds of things that we need clinical pathology results for,” emphasized Marks.¹

The heat diffusion tool contains a thermal scanner and a heat source, as well as a camera, to scan for potential cancer in canine patients. “Essentially, what happens is, when we have a mass...and we use the scanner, it's going to heat the desired tissue at about 42 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 seconds, so it heats it up pretty quick, and then we allow that tissue to cool for 30 seconds. So, in a time frame of 40 seconds total, it's going to detect how the heat is distributed and then how it's diffused within the tissue itself,” explained Marks during the session.¹

As Marks noted, malignant cells show a different diffusion pattern than benign or healthy tissue. For example, mast cell tumors heat up and cools down faster than healthy tissue, whereas lipomas heat up faster but cool down slower. The heat diffusion tool uses this information during scanning of tissue to detect abnormal tissue.

After the scan, screening findings will appear in the HT Vista Result Dashboard, with the platform showing the patient’s cancer risk value along with an interpretation. Users are also able to view the thermal image from the scan and a brief recommendation that can be shared with the client.

According to Marks, the technology “has the ability to diagnose a mast cell tumor with 90% specificity.” Additionally, it has a 98% negative predictive value based on a study of more than 1600 masses.¹ The negative predictive value is defined as the likelihood that a patient with a negative test result actually does not have the disease. “If we're saying [the results say the mass] is a low-based cancer risk...is a lipoma, you can feel 98% certain it's a lipoma,” said Marks.

With the scanning technology, a cancer risk of less than or equal to 10% is considered low. Masses such as lipomas and benign epithelial sebaceous adenomas may fall under this category. Recommendations for this category include monitoring and routine follow-ups.

Cancer risk results of greater than 10% up to 50% are considered moderate by the HT Vista technology. For these masses, further investigation is recommended.

“In [the moderate] category, the best thing about this is we now can give [the] client the option. There [are] clients out there that if you said [the scan results are] between 10% and 50%, they're okay with that. There [are] clients out there [that if] you said it's a 3% cancer risk, they're not okay with that, right?” said Marks. “But it's important that we're able to now give them some data to make an informed decision versus just the black-and-white of ‘we can aspirate it, or we can't—I don't really know what's going on.’”

Meanwhile, masses with results of 50% or higher are considered high risk for cancer. These masses are commonly mast cell tumors and further investigation is required.

According to Marks, 1 in 4 dogs will develop cancer during their lifetime. Moreover, 47% of dogs die of cancer by the age of 10, making it a leading cause of death among these canines.¹ “For your practice, that's about 500 dogs a year are going to die from cancer no matter what you do,” said Marks.

As Marks explained, these startling statistics are due to a lack of effective treatment options, client inability to proceed with treatment, lack of access to care, and late diagnosis. “I think when we have the ability to offer a noninvasive screening tool for cancer at our practice where we can take these subcutaneous and dermal masses and get an early diagnosis without an aspirate, without any surgery, without that intense cost that often goes along with advanced diagnostics, it helps us make these faster and earlier decisions about interventions, or at least giving that family the opportunity to do so,” Marks noted.

Reference

1. Marks N. A New Category of Care: A Practitioner's Guide to Proactive, Noninvasive Screening of Lumps and Bumps.