Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Radiation dose and pain effects on survival in dogs with bone cancer
By Nolan, Michael W et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2020·Department of Clinical Sciences·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Impact of radiation dose and pre-treatment pain levels on survival in dogs undergoing radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy for presumed extremity osteosarcoma.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
An 8-year-old Golden Retriever with a leg tumor was treated for osteosarcoma using either high-dose stereotactic radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy or lower-dose conventional radiotherapy with chemotherapy. The dogs that received the high-dose treatment lived significantly longer, averaging about 350 days compared to 147 days for those on the lower dose. Additionally, dogs that had lower pain levels before treatment also had better survival rates. This suggests that both the type of radiation and the dog's pain level at the start of treatment can impact how long they live after therapy.
People also search for: dog osteosarcoma treatment · Golden Retriever leg tumor · radiation therapy for dogs · chemotherapy for dog cancer · dog pain management before surgery
Abstract
The purpose of this bi-institutional retrospective study was to determine whether survival for dogs with extremity osteosarcoma (OS) is improved through the use of stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT; a single fraction of 25 Gy, or 36 Gy total given in three consecutive daily fractions) plus chemotherapy, vs lower dose conventionally planned and delivered hypofractionated radiotherapy (CHRT; 14-20 Gy total in 1-2 consecutive daily fractions) plus chemotherapy. We also sought to determine whether baseline pain severity influences oncologic outcomes following radiotherapy for canine extremity OS. The medical records of 82 dogs undergoing radiotherapy for confirmed or presumed OS were reviewed. In dogs receiving combinations of both chemotherapy and radiotherapy, survival was significantly longer with SRT vs CHRT (median overall survival time: 350 vs 147 days; P = .031). In a univariate analysis, dogs with pulmonary metastases and high pain at the time of irradiation had short overall survival times; use of high radiation doses and chemotherapy were associated with improved survival. Separate multivariable models were built to assess the predictive nature of various factors that might influence event-free or overall survival in dogs treated with radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy; for dogs treated with both chemotherapy and radiotherapy, overall survival times were significantly longer when baseline pain scores were 'low' (vs 'high'; hazard ratio: 0.258; P = .030), radiation doses were high (hazard ratio: 0.943; P = .034). Neither pain nor radiation dose were associated with survival in dogs treated with radiotherapy, without chemotherapy.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32048435/