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Peer-reviewed veterinary case report

Gemcitabine and radiation treatment for cats with oral cancer

By Jones, Pamela D et al.·Published in Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association·2003·Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed

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Original publication title: Gemcitabine as a radiosensitizer for nonresectable feline oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Species:
cat

Plain-English summary

Eight cats with advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma (a type of mouth cancer) were treated with a combination of a chemotherapy drug called gemcitabine and radiation therapy. The treatment involved giving gemcitabine twice a week along with radiation sessions. Out of the eight cats, two had complete responses to the treatment, four had partial responses, and two did not respond at all. On average, the cats experienced a remission lasting about 42.5 days, and the overall survival time was around 111.5 days. This suggests that using gemcitabine with radiation could be a helpful option for managing this type of cancer in cats.

People also search for: cat mouth cancer treatment · feline oral squamous cell carcinoma · gemcitabine for cats · cat cancer survival rates

Abstract

Eight cats with locally advanced, oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) were treated with a combination of gemcitabine and palliative radiotherapy. Low-dose gemcitabine was administered twice weekly (25 mg/m2) in conjunction with megavoltage radiation in 6 Gray (Gy) fractions for a total dose of 36 Gy. Responses included two complete and four partial responses, and two cats had no response to therapy. Median duration of remission was 42.5 days (range, 11 to 85 days). Median survival time was 111.5 days (range, 11 to 234 days). This data suggests that a combination of low-dose gemcitabine and palliative radiation therapy may be tolerable for cats with oral SCC and may cause a therapeutic benefit.

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Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14518654/