Surgery and outcomes for brain hemangiosarcoma in two dogs

Abstract

The treatment and outcome of central nervous system hemangiosarcoma has rarely been documented in dogs, seldom intracranially. We present the first two canine cases of ante-mortem diagnosis, surgical & post-operative adjunctive treatment, and outcome of intracranial hemangiosarcoma presenting as a solitary mass. Each patient originally presented following onset of seizure activity. Both patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain which revealed an intracranial mass. The masses were surgically removed, and histopathological evaluation was consistent with hemangiosarcoma in each case. Both patients underwent screening for primary and metastatic neoplasia, but there was no evidence of neoplasia elsewhere in the body, raising a suspicion of primary intracranial hemangiosarcoma (not confirmed due to absence of necropsy). One patient solely underwent surgical resection with no additional adjuvant therapy and was humanely euthanized 87 days post-operatively due to worsening of quality of life. The other patient received post-operative adjuvant therapy with doxorubicin. Recurrent cluster seizure activity prompted repeat MRI 280 days post-operatively, which confirmed regrowth. Radiation therapy with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS, CyberKnife) was pursued on day 310; however, the dog was humanely euthanized due to worsening behavioral changes 314 days post-operatively. This series discusses that surgical resection of this solitary mass is doable and may be associated with good quality of life in the short to intermediate term.