Radiation therapy for oral melanoma in dogs: A retrospective study

ABSTRACT: Our retrospective study evaluated the survival of 24 dogs with unresectable malignant melanoma treated with radiation therapy. Fifteen dogs were treated with radiation therapy (RT) and chemotherapy (CT), five with surgery followed by RT and CT, three with palliative RT, and one with electrochemotherapy associated with RT. All dogs were treated with an orthovoltage Stabilipan I. The protocol used was three or four weekly fractions of 8 Gy. Carboplatin was administered every 21 days, a total of four times. Five percent of dogs were classified as having stage I melanoma, 17% as stage II, 50% as stage III, and 17% as stage IV. Sixty-four percent had a partial response to treatment, 29% achieved complete remission, and 7% remained in a stable disease state. The mean survival time was 390 days for stage I, 286 days for stage II, 159 days for stage III, and 90 days for stage IV. We concluded that radiation therapy can be considered a viable alternative for the palliative treatment of canine oral melanoma.

摘要：本回顾性研究评估了24只接受放射治疗的不可切除恶性黑色素瘤犬的生存情况。其中15只犬接受放射治疗（Radiation Therapy, RT）联合化疗（Chemotherapy, CT），5只犬先接受手术治疗后再联合RT与CT，3只犬接受姑息性放射治疗，1只犬接受联合放射治疗的电化学疗法（Electrochemotherapy）。所有受试犬均采用正电压型Stabilipan I设备进行治疗。治疗方案为每周1次分割剂量8 Gy，共实施3或4次照射。卡铂每21天给药1次，总计给药4次。受试犬的临床分期分布为：5%为I期黑色素瘤，17%为II期，50%为III期，17%为IV期。治疗响应情况显示：64%的受试犬获得部分缓解，29%达到完全缓解，7%维持疾病稳定。各分期的平均生存时间分别为：I期390天，II期286天，III期159天，IV期90天。本研究结论认为，放射治疗可作为犬口腔黑色素瘤姑息治疗的可行方案。