ORAL TUMORS IN DOGS AND CATS - PART II - PROGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

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.