Treatment of canine oral melanoma with adjuvant chemotherapy and immunotherapy
Lavalle, Gleidice EuniceCaires, Carla Emanuela TertulianoTeixeira, Stéfane ValgasCunha, Rúbia Monteiro de CastroCarneiro, Rubens Antônio
Background: Melanoma is the most frequent cancer in the canine oral cavity. It shows an aggressive behavior, characterized by rapid and invasive growth and high metastatic potential. Metastasis is seen in more than 80% of dogs at time ofdeath. Adjuvant therapy should be recommended because of potential recurrence and metastasis. Oral melanoma has a poorprognosis even when adjuvant treatments are used. There are some treatment options, but the high death rate due to thedisease is still a challenge. The aim of this study was to assess the overall survival of dogs diagnosed with oral melanomaand treated with adjuvant chemotherapy and immunotherapy.Materials, Methods & Results: A retrospective analysis was carried out in 20 dogs with oral melanocytic or amelanocyticmelanomas. Cases were staged according to a modified World Health Organization clinical staging system for canine oralmalignant melanoma. Tumor size (T1: < 2 cm; T2: 2 - 4 cm; T3: > 4 cm), regional metastasis (N0: no metastasis; N1:metastasis) and presence of distant metastasis (M0: no metastasis; M1: metastasis) are evaluated. Then, cases were dividedinto 4 stages: I (T1 N0 M0), II (T2 N0 M0), III (T3 N0-1 M0, Tx N1 M0) and IV (Tx Nx M1). Diagnoses were confirmedwith histopathological exam and immunohistochemistry (IHC) when necessary. In poorly differentiated neoplasms, IHC wasperformed at the request of the submitting veterinarian using specific markers PNL-2 and Melan-A. Animals were dividedinto 2 groups: dogs submitted to surgery alone were included in group 1 (G1); dogs submitted...(AU)
Texto completo