Electrochemotherapy association with surgery, overall survival in canine squamous cell carcinoma
Significant correlation found between fur coat color, tumor development in areas of sun exposure
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is an important malignancy in dogs, due to its incidence and clinical presentation, which can be of locally aggressive single or multiple lesions with a metastatic potential. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate SCC response to treatment, anatomopathological and immunohistochemical characteristics, disease-free interval and overall survival time.
Researchers included 54 dogs with histopathologically diagnosed SCC in this study. Their mean age was 9.16 years with a range of one to 14 years. Of the 54 animals in the study, 34 or 65.4% had white skin and white fur coats.
There was a significant correlation between fur coat color and the development of tumors in areas of sun exposure (p = 0.001). Animals with tumors in areas of the body exposed to the sun had longer overall survival time than animals with tumors in areas not associated with sun exposure (p = 0.001).
Surgery combined with electrochemotherapy (ECT) yielded a survival rate 32% higher than using a surgical approach alone (HR = 0.32, p = 0.038, IC = 0.11-0.94). ECT, with or without surgery, had an objective response rate of 90.9%. Local lymph node and/or distant site metastasis at diagnosis, or at some point during follow-up, occurred in 34.6% (18/52) of animals.
Animals with tumors in sun exposed locations had more aggressive histopathological characteristics but had longer overall survival time. This is probably due to individualized therapeutic treatment with both surgery and ECT.
Rúbia Monteiro de Castro Cunha, et al. “Canine squamous cell carcinoma: electrochemotherapy association with surgery and correlation with overall survival.” Vet Comp Oncol. 6 February 2023. doi: 10.1111/vco.12882.
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