Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Higher urine bone marker levels in dogs with limb bone cancer
By Lacoste, Hugues et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2006·Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Urine N-telopeptide excretion in dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with a type of bone cancer called appendicular osteosarcoma (OSA) had higher levels of a specific marker in their urine that indicates bone breakdown. This study looked at 63 dogs with OSA and found that their urine contained significantly more of this marker compared to healthy dogs. After treatment, which included either amputation or palliative care, 17 of the dogs showed a decrease in this marker, suggesting that their treatment was helping to reduce the harmful bone loss caused by the cancer. This information could help veterinarians better diagnose and manage bone cancer in dogs.
People also search for: dog bone cancer symptoms · osteosarcoma treatment for dogs · high urine NTx levels in dogs
Abstract
Canine appendicular osteosarcoma (OSA) is a commonly diagnosed cancer that is capable of inducing pathologic bone remodeling. Investigating surrogate indices of bone metabolism may contribute to the diagnostic and therapeutic management of bone malignancies in companion animals. This study evaluated the excretion of N-terminal telopeptide (NTx), a marker of bone resorption that is detected in urine. Sixty-three dogs with appendicular OSA were compared with 29 age-matched healthy dogs. Dogs with appendicular OSA had significantly higher baseline urine NTx excretion than healthy controls (P < .0001). In 17 dogs with OSA treated with either amputation or standardized palliative therapies, significant reductions in urine NTx excretion were observed, suggesting that excessive bone resorption in dogs with OSA may be linked with focal skeletal osteolysis or its consequences. To identify any relationship between indicators of pathologic bone turnover, baseline urine NTx excretion was correlated with serum bone alkaline phosphatase (bALP) or radiographic tumor lengths at diagnosis. No significant correlations were identified between baseline urine NTx excretion and either bALP or tumor length. The findings from this study suggest that high urinary NTx excretion may support the diagnosis of focal skeletal osteolysis in dogs, and reductions in urine NTx excretion after treatment may reflect elimination or minimization of pathologic bone resorption.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16594591/