Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Managing skin and soft tissue sarcoma tumors in dogs
By Hohenhaus, Ann E et al.·Published in Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association·2016·Stanford University, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Canine Cutaneous and Subcutaneous Soft Tissue Sarcoma: An Evidence-Based Review of Case Management.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A dog with a skin tumor was diagnosed with a type of cancer called soft tissue sarcoma (STS), which is a common malignant growth in dogs. To treat this condition, veterinarians recommend a thorough examination, including cytology and biopsy, to plan for surgery. The best approach is to surgically remove the tumor with wide margins to reduce the chance of it coming back. In some cases, additional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy may help after surgery. Ongoing research aims to improve treatment strategies and monitoring for these tumors.
People also search for: dog skin tumor treatment · soft tissue sarcoma in dogs · dog cancer surgery recovery · chemotherapy for dog cancer
Abstract
Canine cutaneous and subcutaneous soft tissue sarcomas (STS) account for 20.3% of malignant neoplasms of the skin. This article makes recommendations for the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up in dogs with STS, using evidence-based medicine concepts. Although our review of the literature on the management of canine STS found many of the studies to be less than rigorous, board-certified specialists in internal medicine, surgery, pathology, oncology, and radiation oncology were able to make several recommendations based on the literature review: cytology and biopsy are important for presurgical planning; wide (>3 cm margins) surgical excision decreases the likelihood of tumor recurrence; the use of a histologic grading scale is useful in predicting biologic behavior; and, in select cases, chemotherapy and radiation therapy may be beneficial adjunct treatments to surgical excision. More research is necessary to determine minimum size of surgical margins, the impact of radiation therapy on incompletely resected tumors, the ideal chemotherapy protocol for high grade STS, and the optimal methods of monitoring dogs for tumor recurrence and metastasis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26808432/