Rs. Dhaliwal et al., ORAL TUMORS IN DOGS AND CATS - PART II - PROGNOSIS AND TREATMENT, The Compendium on continuing education for the practicing veterinarian, 20(10), 1998, pp. 1109
Small size and rostral location generally are positive prognostic fact
ors for all types of oral tumors.:Standard treatment modalities for or
al tumors include surgery, radiation therapy, intralesional matrix cis
platin, photodynamic therapy, and chemotherapy, Investigational therap
eutic regimens, such as immunotherapy and gene therapy are not:yet wid
ely available to practicing veterinarians. Surgery and radiation thera
py are the-treatments of-choice for oral tumors because these neoplasm
s are locally aggressive and rarely metastasize. The advent of radical
,surgical techniques coupled: with the use of radiation therapy has dr
amatically: improved survival Fates for dogs with oral tumors. When co
nsidered for oral tumors, chemotherapy is always palliative therapy be
cause a complete cure cannot be anticipated with chemotherapy alone. H
owever, using concurrent chemotherapy (as a radiation Sensitizer) and
radiation therapy is gaining a lot of interest in clinical research. P
art I of this two-part presentation discussed clinical Signs,diagnosis
, and histologic types of various oral tumors; Part II reviews prognos
is and treatment.