Melanocyte neoplasms are one of the most common neoplasms in dogs and vary widely in their biological behavior. Numerous studies have evaluated various prognostic markers for canine melanocytic neoplasms either as primary or secondary goals, however,few true prognostic studies exist and there are no universally accepted criteria to prognosticate canine melanocytic neoplasms. The recently published "Recommended Guidelines for the Conduct and Evaluation of Prognostic Studies in Veterinary Oncology" (Webster et al. Epub 2010) that were initiated by the ACVP oncology committee, reflect the current consensus opinion of veterinary pathologists and oncologists on how to evaluate prognostic classification systems of canine neoplasms. We conducted a detailed literature review of canine melanocytic neoplasms to identify which prognostic factors have been published and evaluated the different postulated prognostic classification schemes according to the above mentioned guidelines. Based on this evaluation, we determined which prognostic parameters have been shown to have statistical significance according to these standards, and provided recommendations for the prognostication of canine melanocytic neoplasms.
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