Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Electrochemotherapy for treating oral cancer in dogs
By Simčič, Petra et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2020·Department of Veterinary Sciences, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Electrochemotherapy in treatment of canine oral non-tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma. A case series report.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with oral squamous cell carcinoma, a type of aggressive mouth tumor, were treated with electrochemotherapy (ECT) combined with a chemotherapy drug called bleomycin. Out of 11 dogs treated, 10 showed a positive response, with 8 achieving complete remission and 2 showing partial improvement. The treatment was well-tolerated with very low side effects. Dogs with smaller tumors (less than 1-2 cm) had the best outcomes, suggesting that ECT could be a promising option for treating this type of cancer in dogs, especially when caught early.
People also search for: dog oral cancer treatment · electrochemotherapy for dogs · squamous cell carcinoma in dogs · dog mouth tumor prognosis
Abstract
Non-tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma (ntSCC) is a common and locally aggressive oral tumour in dogs. The treatments of choice are currently surgery and radiotherapy. Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a local ablative anti-tumour technique using electric pulses to enhance the intracellular diffusion of cytotoxic drugs. The aim was to retrospectively evaluate the outcome of patients with oral ntSCC treated with ECT. Twelve dogs with ntSCC were retrospectively enrolled. ECT was combined with IV bleomycin (15 000 UI/m) alone in 11 cases and post-surgery in 1. Parameters considered were: tumour site and size, electroporation parameters, response rate (complete remission [CR], partial remission [PR]), median survival time (MST), recurrence rate (RR), median disease-free interval (DFI) and treatment toxicity (6-point scale). Median tumour size was 1.65 cm (range 0.3-8.0 cm) and the response rate was 90.9% (10/11; 8 CR and 2 PR). Two dogs underwent a second ECT. MST for dogs dead with tumour (n = 2) was 110 days and for dogs dead without tumour (n = 3) was 831 days. Among five surviving dogs, one experienced tumour recurrence and four were in CR. Results from two dogs were analysed separately. Overall RR was 27.3%. DFI and MST for dogs with recurrence were 50 and 115 days, respectively. Treatment toxicity was very low. We noticed that all dogs with tumours smaller than 1-2 cm achieved CR without recurrence suggesting a favourable prognosis when using ECT. ECT for canine ntSCC could be considered a valid treatment option especially for smaller tumours, but a larger caseload would be needed to confirm this statement.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31419028/