SEBACEOUS ADENITIS IN DOGS AND RESULTS OF TREATMENT WITH ISOTRETINOINAND ETRETINATE - 30 CASES (1990-1994)

Medical records of 30 dogs with histologically confirmed sebaceous ade nitis that were treated with isotretinoin or etretinate were reviewed. Akitas and Standard Poodles were overrepresented, compared with the g eneral hospital population. Thirteen dogs had concurrent pyoderma. The retinoids were administered for a minimum of 2 months. Dosage for the 13 dogs treated with isotretinoin only ranged from 0.8 to 3.5 mg/kg o f body weight/d (mean, 1.4 mg/kg/d). Dosage for the 10 dogs treated wi th etretinate only ranged from 0.7 to 1.8 mg/kg/d (mean, 1.1 mg/kg/d). Two dogs were first given isotretinoin (mean dosage, 1.5 mg/kg/d) and , when they did not respond, were subsequently given etretinate (mean dosage, 0.85 mg/kg/d). Five dogs were first given etretinate (mean dos age, 1 mg/kg/d) and, when they did not respond, were subsequently give n isotretinoin (mean dosage, 1.6 mg/kg/d). For the 20 dogs treated wit h isotretinoin, 1 was lost to follow-up, 9 of the remaining 19 had a s uccessful outcome (> 50% reduction in severity of scaling and extent o f alopecia, compared with pretreatment appearance). For the 17 dogs tr eated with etretinate, 9 had a successful outcome. Outcome could not b e predicted on the basis of clinical signs or histologic findings, and a prognosis could not be determined on the basis of whether sebaceous glands were evident histologically.