Roxy, A Canine Cancer Success Story!!!

Roxy is a 4 ½ year old female spayed small breed dog that presented to the Oncology Service for the first time on 4/21/21 for evaluation of a solitary right cranial pulmonary mass that was diagnosed on thoracic radiographs on 3/21/21 while she was being evaluated for coughing. An abdominal ultrasound was performed, which was normal, and cytology of the mass was performed and consistent with carcinoma. A chest CT was then performed with the goal of evaluating if Roxy was a good surgical candidate, but it unfortunately revealed multiple pulmonary nodules that were not visualized on radiographs. She was then diagnosed with metastatic pulmonary carcinoma and started on chemotherapy. 

Roxy was treated with a combination of carboplatin and gemcitabine chemotherapy. She received a total of 8 cycles of chemotherapy and her total protocol duration time was 6 months. She did not experience any side effects from chemotherapy and her quality of life was excellent while undergoing treatment. She had thoracic radiographs performed prior to cycles #4 and #8, and both showed no evidence of cancer, which means she entered complete remission with chemotherapy. She was then transitioned to maintenance oral chemotherapy and was still in complete remission on 10/13/21 when she had radiographs last performed. Thanks to chemotherapy, she has been alive for 7 months after a diagnosis of metastatic pulmonary cancer. Without chemotherapy, her expected survival time was less than 3 months.

In summary, dogs with pulmonary carcinoma can have positive outcomes if treated appropriately and if no negative prognostic factors are identified. The presence of one or more identified negative prognostic factors can negatively affect prognosis. Although surgery is the mainstay treatment for this type of cancer, the addition of chemotherapy in efforts to prolong survival time in pets with identified negative prognostic factors can be helpful. For dogs that are not good surgical candidates, chemotherapy is a palliative option that can be pursued as in Roxy’s case.

A Case of Canine Metastatic Pulmonary Carcinoma

Irene Vazquez, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Oncology)

Irene.Vazquez@vca.com

Oncology Services

Monday-Thursday

References

1. Rebhun, R.B., Culp, W.T.N., (2007). Pulmonary Neoplasia. In Withrow & MacEwen's Small Animal Clinical Oncology (5th ed., p. 453-459). St. Louis, MO: Saunders Elsevier.

2. Brody RS, Craig PH: Primary pulmonary neoplasms in the dog: a review of 29 cases, J Am Vet Med Assoc 147:1628-1643, 1965.

3. Griffery SM, Kraegel SA, Madewell BR: Rapid detection of K-ras gene mutations in canine lung cancer using single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis, Carcinogenesis 19:959-963, 1998.

4. Meuten DJ: Tumors in domestic animals, ed 4, Ames, Iowa, 2002, Iowa State University Press.

5. Hahn FF, Muggenburg BA. Griffith WC: Primary lung neoplasia in a beagle colony, Vet Pathol 33:633-638, 1996.

6. Moulton JE, von Tscharner C, Schneider R: Classification of lung carcinomas in the dog and cat, Vet Pathol 18:513-528, 1981.

7. Nielsen SW, Horava A: Primary pulmonary tumors of the dog. A report of sixteen cases, Am J Vet Res 21:813-830, 1960.

8. D’Costa S, Yoon B-I, Kim DY, et al: Morphologic and molecular analysis of 39 spontaneous feline pulmonary carcinomas, Vet Pathol DOI 10.117710300985811419529, 2011.

New Treatment for Mast Cell Tumors (MCT)-STELFONTA

New Treatment for Mast Cell Tumors (MCT)-STELFONTA

VCA Hollywood Animal Hospital now offers STELFONTA as a cutting edge treatment for Mast Cell Tumors (MCT). STELFONTA is a prescription medicine used in dogs to treat mast cell tumors on the skin or in the tissues just under the skin. Given as an injection directly into your dog’s tumor, it destroys the tumor by breaking down cancer cells and starving their blood supply. A “pocket” or wound is left at the injection site where the tumor was. This is generally a healthy wound ready for skin and hair to grow back in a few weeks.

Pretreatment involves oral medications, including corticosteroids and antihistamines, prior to the injection of STELFONTA. These medications are very important to reduce the risks associated with inflammatory substances that can be released from the tumor as the mast cells are destroyed. Premedication is given 2 days pretreatment and continues until 7 days post treatment. It is essential that you give all medications as prescribed.

Most dogs do not need sedation or anesthesia during the procedure although occasionally, dogs may be sedated. 

Side effects reported in dogs treated with STELFONTA were generally mild and short lasting, but they can be severe, especially if not treated in a timely manner. 

The most common adverse reactions included wound formation, injection-site pain, lameness in the treated limb, vomiting, diarrhea, and hypoalbuminemia (low levels in the blood of the protein albumin). Although most side effects/adverse reactions seen in clinical studies were mild, the most serious side effects occurred in the first 4 days. Excessive pain, lameness, tiredness, refusal to eat for more than one day, repeated vomiting or diarrhea, trouble breathing, changes to the treated tumor site (including increased or excessive swelling and bruising, extensive wound formation, increased irritation) or any other symptoms should be examined immediately and treated accordingly. 

Irene Vazquez, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Oncology)

Medical Oncologist
VCA Hollywood Animal Hospital

Pet CancerCare Center

vcahollywood@vca.com