Inflammatory mammary carcinoma in 12 dogs: clinical features, cyclooxygenase-2 expression, and response to piroxicam treatment.

Canine inflammatory mammary carcinoma (IMC) is a rare, locally aggressive, highly metastatic tumor that is poorly responsive to treatment. The purposes of this study were to retrospectively evaluate the history, signalment, and clinical signs of dogs with IMC; compare the outcome of affected dogs treated with traditional chemotherapy with those treated with piroxicam; evaluate Cox-2 expression of IMC cells; and correlate Cox-2 expression with outcome based on treatment. Strong cyclooxygenase-2 expression was present in all tumors.