Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Survival time after discharge in dogs with brain tumors
By Rossmeisl, John H et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·2013·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Survival time following hospital discharge in dogs with palliatively treated primary brain tumors.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 51 dogs with primary brain tumors that were treated with palliative care, such as prednisone or phenobarbital, were studied to see how long they lived after leaving the hospital. On average, these dogs survived for about 69 days after discharge, but those with tumors in the back part of the brain (infratentorial tumors) had a much shorter survival time of around 28 days. In contrast, dogs with tumors in the front part of the brain (supratentorial tumors) lived significantly longer, averaging 178 days. Seizures were a common symptom in dogs with supratentorial tumors, while those with infratentorial tumors often showed signs of balance issues.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To analyze survival time and identify prognostic factors associated with outcome following discharge in dogs with primary brain tumors treated palliatively. DESIGN: Prospective case series. ANIMALS: 51 dogs with 5 histopathologic types of brain tumors. PROCEDURES: Owners with dogs examined from 2004 to 2008 were invited to participate if dogs had CT or MRI evidence of a brain mass that was histopathologically confirmed as a neoplasm upon death, dogs survived for ≥ 48 hours after hospital discharge, and treatments following discharge were limited to administration of prednisone or phenobarbital. Prognostic factors, including signalment, clinical signs (including duration), tumor type, tumor location, degree of peritumoral edema, lesion burden, and prescribed treatment, were evaluated. Survival time was estimated and animal- and tumor-specific variables evaluated as potential prognostic factors. RESULTS: The median survival time in all dogs was 69 days (95% confidence interval [CI], 18 to 201 days). Multivariate analyses identified neuroanatomic location as the only significant prognostic variable, with the survival time of dogs with infratentorial tumors (n = 18) being significantly shorter (median, 28 days; 95% CI, 19 to 68 days) than survival time of dogs with supratentorial (33) tumors (median, 178 days; 95% CI, 119 to 270 days). Seizures were the most common clinical sign associated with supratentorial tumors (24/33 [73%]) and central vestibular dysfunction with infratentorial tumors (12/18). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Dogs with palliatively treated primary brain tumors, particularly those with tumors in the cerebellum, pons, or medulla, had a poor prognosis. However, dogs with supratentorial tumors had survival times > 3 months.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23276095/