HI again XXXXXXXXXX - did you get my reply??
Here it is again if you didn't:
Thank you for your question regarding your cat who has fibrosarcoma. As your Vet may have told you, the fibrosarcoma between the shoulder blades could well be due to previous vaccinations at this site. This is a well known, but relatively rare side effect of giving vaccines. These tumors also do tend to recur as it sounds like has happened with the tumor on the lower left rib.
The ideal method of treatment for these tumors is sugery and involves a large excision to try and remove the entire tumor. It is necessary to be quite aggressive with the margins on these tumors as they recur very commonly if they are not completely removed with wide margins. For this reason I usually refer these cases to a specialist Veterinary oncologist as this is usually major surgery as it can be quite hard piecethe skin back together once the masses are removed wide margins. Surgical treatment would then (in an ideal world) be followed up with either radiation and/or chemotherapy.
For your kitty I really would encourage you to get your Vet to refer you on to a specialist as regular Vets often leave parts of these tumors behind meaning they recur very quickly.
I hope this helps and please reply if you need any extra info.
Thank you for your question and please now click ACCEPT.
Kind Regards,
Dr M D Edwards
No problems - don't panic I will get someone to remove this question.
Thanks again,
Dr Edwards
Dr. Edwards,
I live in Montgomery, AL, have been referred to Auburn University Small Animal Clinic to a Board Certified Oncologist, but the draw back is that there are students there that care for my cat, they severely bruised Aubie last week, because the Oncologist there recommended CHEMO. However, I just found out today, that CHEMO, doesn't affect fibrosarcoma's so now what have I done. I don't want to go back there because of the students.
Hi again XXXXXXXXXX,
Thanks for the reply - sorry to hear about your cat's trip to the Vet teaching hospital. Most Veterinary oncologists are based at University teaching hospitals and to be honest, these students are VERY good at what they do and spend much of their spare time helping care for these animals. The bruising is much more likely due to the drugs rather than those administering the drugs! Do remember that any studen activities are closely overseen by senior staff anyway! If you really don't want Aubie to go to a Vet teaching hospital you will have to ask the oncologist if he or she knows any of their colleagues that aren't working in a teaching hospital.
Furthermore chemo DOES help improve survival rates of fibrosarcoma patients. Please read the following journal article abstract below showing significant improval in survival rates. It all depends on the chemotherapy drugs and protocol being used by the oncologist:
J Vet Intern Med. 2002 Nov-Dec;16(6):726-31.Liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin (Doxil) and doxorubicin in the treatment of vaccine-associated sarcoma in cats.
Poirier VJ, Thamm DH, Kurzman ID, Jeglum KA, Chun R, Obradovich JE, O'Brien M, Fred RM 3rd, Phillips BS, Vail DM.
Department of Medical Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Veterinary Medicine, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
The purpose of this randomized, multicenter study was to evaluate the toxicity and efficacy of liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin (LED) and doxorubicin (DOX) in the treatment of feline vaccine-associated sarcoma (VAS). Cats were divided according to their disease status into a microscopic arm (no evidence of gross disease) and a macroscopic arm (evidence of gross disease). Each arm was randomized to receive either LED (1-1.5 mg/kg i.v. q3 weeks) or DOX (1 mg/kg i.v. q3 weeks). Thirty-three cats were entered in the macroscopic arm of the study with an overall response rate of 39% (5 complete response and 8 partial response) and a median time to progression of 84 days. Response rates were not different between LED and DOX. Seventy-five cats were entered into the microscopic arm. When compared to a similar historical control population treated with surgery alone, the cats receiving chemotherapy had a prolonged median disease-free interval (388 days versus 93 days). No difference in efficacy was detected between LED and DOX. LED at 1.5 mg/kg induced delayed nephrotoxicosis in 23%, necessitating a decrease in the recommended dosage to 1 mg/kg, and cutaneous toxicosis in 21.7% of treated cats. This study showed that both DOX and LED are efficacious in the treatment of VAS and should be considered in the treatment of this tumor.
You can see there is a dramatic improvement with this protocol- 300 days extra survival time!!
I hope this helps clear things up for you.
Cat Veterinarian
Veterinarian - BVSc (DVM equivalent)