Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Survival and recovery in 9 dogs after spinal bone cancer radiation
By Swift, K E & LaRue, S M·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2018·Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Outcome of 9 dogs treated with stereotactic radiation therapy for primary or metastatic vertebral osteosarcoma.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Nine dogs with vertebral osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, were treated with a specialized radiation therapy called stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT). Some dogs had primary tumors while others had cancer that had spread to the spine. After treatment, four dogs showed improvement in their neurological function, and five out of six dogs with spinal pain reported less discomfort. On average, the dogs lived for about 139 days after treatment, with pain relief lasting around 77 days. While the results were similar to other treatment options, managing this type of cancer remains challenging.
People also search for: dog vertebral osteosarcoma treatment · stereotactic radiation therapy for dogs · dog spinal cancer pain relief
Abstract
Primary and metastatic vertebral osteosarcoma (OSA) in the dog carries an overall guarded prognosis. Previously reported definitive treatments in dogs with vertebral OSA have included surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy or a combination of those therapies. This retrospective study was completed to determine patterns of failure, duration of local control and survival time in dogs with vertebral OSA treated with stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT). Nine dogs were treated with SRT for vertebral OSA. Protocols ranged from 1 to 5 fractions with total prescription ranging from 13.5 to 36 Gy. Six dogs had primary lesions and 3 had metastatic lesions. Neurologic score improved in 4 patients, remained the same in 4 and worsened in 1. Five of the 6 dogs that presented with assessable spinal pain had reported improvement in pain. Overall median survival time was 139 days and median duration of pain control was 77 days. There was not a statistically significant survival difference between dogs presenting with primary or metastatic disease, or dogs that had improvement in neurologic score following SRT. The data suggests similar survival times to the previously reported definitive treatments in dogs with vertebral OSA and displays continued difficulty in controlling this tumour. The dose limiting structure is the late responding spinal cord, but many of the patients herein died prior to the expected time to development of late radiation side effects.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29181871/