Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Radiation treatment results for cat facial skin cancer
By Cunha, Simone C S et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2010·Faculdade de Medicina veteriná, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Radiation therapy for feline cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma using a hypofractionated protocol.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 15 cats with facial squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) underwent a special radiation treatment to see if it could help shrink their tumors. The treatment involved four sessions of radiation over a few weeks, but only 40% of the tumors completely disappeared, while 12% showed some improvement, and 48% did not respond at all. Cats with smaller tumors had better outcomes, with 62.5% achieving complete remission. Unfortunately, some owners chose to euthanize their cats when the treatment didn’t work. While the radiation was generally safe, the researchers are looking to improve the treatment for better results in the future.
People also search for: cat facial cancer treatment · feline squamous cell carcinoma radiation · cat skin cancer survival rate
Abstract
The objective of this paper was to evaluate the efficacy of a hypofractionated radiation protocol for feline facial squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Twenty-five histologically confirmed SCCs in 15 cats were treated with four fractions of 7.6-10Gy each, with 1 week intervals. The equipment used was a linear accelerator Clinac 2100 delivering electron beam of 4 or 6MeV, and a bolus of 5 or 10mm was used in all lesions. Of the lesions, 44% were staged as T4, 16% as T3, 8% as T2 and 32% as T1. Of the irradiated lesions, 40% had complete response, 12% had partial response and 48% had no response (NR) to the treatment. For T1 tumors, 62.5% had complete remission. Mean overall survival time was 224 days. Owners requested euthanasia of cats having NR to the treatment. Mean disease free time was 271 days. Side effects observed were skin erythema, epilation, ulceration and conjunctivitis, which were graded according to Veterinary Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (VRTOG) toxicity criteria. Response rates found in this study (52%) were lower when compared to other protocols, probably due to technique differences, such as fractionation schedule, bolus thickness and energy penetration depth. However, the hypofractionated radiation protocol was considered safe for feline facial SCC. Modifications of this protocol are being planned with the objective of improving the cure rates in the future.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20034827/