Intensity-modulated radiotherapy and chemotherapy for canine right atrial tumors: A retrospective study of seven dogs.

Most primary cardiac tumors in dogs are located in the right atrium/atrial appendage, with hemangiosarcoma being the most common. The aims of this retrospective, case series were to describe outcomes for seven dogs with right atrial tumors treated with hypofractionated intensity-modulated radiotherapy and concurrent vinblastine and propranolol. One dog had a complete response, four dogs had partial responses and two dogs had stable disease after treatment. Effusions resolved in all dogs. Median progression-free survival was 290 days. Five dogs died from metastatic disease, one dog from unrelated neoplasia, and one dog is alive. Median overall survival was 326 days. Three dogs with confirmed hemangiosarcoma survived 244, 326, and 445 days. Two dogs developed clinically significant, but nonfatal, cardiac arrhythmias. One dog that received three courses of radiation had subclinical myocardial and arterial fibrosis at necropsy. Hypofractionated chemoradiotherapy was well tolerated and may provide clinical benefit in dogs with right atrial tumors.

Efficacy of frameless stereotactic radiotherapy for the treatment of presumptive canine intracranial gliomas: A retrospective analysis (2014-2017).

The use of conventional multi-fractionated radiotherapy for the treatment of glial tumours is well documented in the literature. Recently, stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) has become more widely available allowing for hypo-fractionated protocols; however, its usefulness in the treatment of canine intracranial gliomas is largely undetermined. We conducted a retrospective analysis, including 21 dogs diagnosed with presumptive intracranial gliomas treated with one or more courses of three fractions of 8 to 10 Gy CyberKnife SRT. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, safety and prognostic factors associated with the use of SRT for the treatment of canine intracranial gliomas. Overall MST for all dogs was 636 days (d). Dogs treated with one course of the described SRT protocol had a MST of 258 days while those treated with >1 course had a MST of 865 days (P = .0077 log rank, 0.0139 Wilcoxon). Dogs treated with one course of SRT who received adjuvant chemotherapy had a MST of >658 days and lived significantly longer than those who did not receive chemotherapy (MST, 230 days) (P = .0414 log rank, 0.0453 Wilcoxon). The most common adverse event included presumptive transient demyelination in 3/21 dogs, which was treated successfully with corticosteroids in all patients. This study provides evidence that SRT is effective in prolonging survival in dogs with intracranial gliomas, and may provide similar results to conventional fractionated protocols, while decreasing the number of hospital visits and anaesthetic episodes. Additionally, it appears that patients can be safely treated with multiple rounds of SRT resulting in improved survival times.

Dogs with acute myeloid leukemia or lymphoid neoplasms (large cell lymphoma or acute lymphoblastic leukemia) may have indistinguishable mediastinal masses on radiographs.

Acute myeloid leukemia is an uncommon hematopoietic neoplasm of dogs that should be differentiated from lymphoid neoplasms, such as lymphoma, because of different treatment protocols and a worse prognosis. Thoracic radiography is performed frequently in dogs with suspected hematopoietic neoplasia, and detecting a mediastinal mass often prioritizes lymphoma as the most likely diagnosis. However, we have observed a mediastinal mass in several dogs with acute myeloid leukemia and hypothesized that (1) the frequency of a mediastinal mass was higher and (2) the size of the mass was larger in dogs with acute myeloid leukemia compared to dogs with lymphoid neoplasms. In this analytical study (observational, retrospective, and cross-sectional), the sample population included 238 dogs with hematopoietic neoplasia. These dogs were divided into lymphoid (large cell lymphoma, acute lymphoblastic leukemia) and myeloid groups based on standard phenotyping tests. A mediastinal mass was detected during thoracic radiography in 73/218 (33%) and nine of 20 (45%) dogs in the lymphoid and myeloid groups (P = 0.21), respectively. The median size ratio of mediastinal mass to cardiac silhouette was 0.20 and 0.23 in the lymphoid and myeloid groups (P = 0.96), respectively. Additionally, we observed normal thoracic radiographs in 111/218 (51%) dogs in the lymphoid group and nine of 20 (45%) dogs in the myeloid group. In conclusion, acute myeloid leukemia should be considered when a mediastinal mass is detected during radiography in dogs with suspected hematopoietic neoplasia-but the presence or size of a mediastinal mass does not differentiate between myeloid and lymphoid neoplasms.