Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Safety of wide-field radiation for blood cancer treatment in cats
By Husbands, Brian D et al.Ā·Published in Veterinary radiology & ultrasound : the official journal of the American College of Veterinary Radiology and the International Veterinary Radiology AssociationĀ·2010Ā·College of Veterinary Medicine, United StatesĀ·View original on PubMed ā
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Original publication title: Initial evaluation of safety of wide-field irradiation in the treatment of hematopoietic neoplasia in the cat.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 15 cats with blood cancers that were either resistant to chemotherapy or newly diagnosed received wide-field radiation therapy to see if it could help them. Most of the cats had some gastrointestinal (GI) issues before treatment, but after the radiation, many showed improvement or stable signs. Only a couple of cats experienced temporary worsening of their GI symptoms, which were linked to their disease progression rather than the treatment itself. Overall, the radiation therapy was found to be safe and may help cats with these serious conditions.
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Abstract
Localized radiation therapy is well tolerated in cats with confined tumors; however, the use of wide-field radiation therapy to treat disseminated neoplasia has not been evaluated systematically in this species. Wide-field external beam radiation therapy, which we define as irradiation of cranial or caudal halves of the body either individually or sequentially, was undertaken as an experimental option to treat cats with either chemotherapy-refractory or naive hematopoietic neoplasia considered to have a poor prognosis. Fifteen cats with hematopoietic malignancies received wide-field external beam radiation therapy between 2003 and 2006. Cats received 8 Gy delivered in 4 Gy fractions with 60Co photons. Treatment-related toxicity was scored according to criteria established by the Veterinary Cooperative Oncology Group. Animals without preexisting abnormalities on hemograms exhibited no or mild (Grade 1 or 2) hematopoietic toxicity. Although most cats (14 of 15) had preexisting gastrointestinal (GI) signs, these signs were stable (29%) or improved (42%) following irradiation. Worsening GI signs following irradiation occurred transiently in two cats and in association with progressive disease in two others. No pulmonary, renal, hepatic, or dermatologic toxicities were detected. In summary, wide-field external beam radiation therapy can be administered safely to, and may provide therapeutic benefit for, cats with disseminated hematopoietic neoplasia.
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Search related cases āOriginal publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21158248/