Cardiac tumours are uncommon in the canine and feline population and often an incidental finding. Common types include haemangiosarcoma (HSA), aortic body tumours (chemodectoma and paraganglioma) and lymphoma. These neoplasms can cause mild to severe, life-threatening clinical signs that are independent of the histological type and may be related to altered cardiovascular function or local haemorrhage/effusion into the pericardial space. Cardiac tumours may require symptomatic treatment aimed at controlling tumour bleeding and potential arrhythmias, and other signs caused by the mass effect. Additional treatment options include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. For all medical therapies, complete remission is unlikely and medical management, beyond adjunctive chemotherapy in HSA, requires further investigation but combination chemotherapy is recommended for lymphoma. The aim of this report is to summarize and critically appraise the current literature in a descriptive review. However, interpretation is limited by the lack of definitive diagnosis and retrospective nature of most studies.

Background: Information regarding outcome of dogs undergoing surgical management for insulinoma is based on studies of a small number of dogs.Objectives: To report the outcomes of dogs undergoing surgery as treatment for insulinoma, the prevalence of postoperative diabetes mellitus (DM) in this group and to determine if development of DM can be predicted. Animals: Forty-eight client-owned dogs, with a histopathological diagnosis of insulinoma, from three European referral hospitals. Methods: Retrospective observational study. Dogs were identified from a search of electronic hospital records. Cox's regression was used to determine factors associated with postoperative survival and relapse, and logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with the development of DM. Results: Median survival time (MST) was 372 days (range 1-1680 days), with dogs with stage I disease having the longest survival time. Stage I dogs had MST of 652 days (range 2-1680 days), whereas dogs with either stage II or III disease had MST of 320 days (range 1-1260 days; P = 0.045). Postoperative hyperglycemia was identified in 33% (16/48) of the dogs, of which 9 (19% of the total population) developed persistent DM. No factors that could be used as predictors for development of DM were identified.Conclusions and clinical importance: Stage of disease and postoperative hypoglycemia were associated with greater odds of relapse and decreased survival time; these could be used when discussing prognosis. In this study, postoperative DM developed more commonly than previously reported, but no factors were identified that might be useful predictors.

Literature describing medical treatment of canine prostatic carcinoma (PC) is sparse. The aims of this study were to assess outcomes, including time to progression (TTP) and median survival time (MST), of canine PC treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and/or chemotherapy, and to identify prognostic factors. Records from 8 institutions were searched for dogs with cytologically or histologically confirmed PC without bladder involvement: 67 dogs were included. Presenting signs were urinary (25), gastrointestinal ([GI], 11) and systemic (3); 16 dogs had GI and urinary signs, 7 dogs had systemic signs with concurrent GI or urinary signs and in 5 dogs the tumour was an incidental finding. Out of 27 dogs, 9 (33%) had positive urine culture. Metastases were identified in 26 dogs to lymph nodes (19), lungs (10), bone (2) and liver (1). Treatment included NSAIDs and chemotherapy (32), NSAIDs alone (31) and chemotherapy alone (4). The overall MST was 82 days (range 9-752) and median TTP was 63 days (range 9-752). Dogs receiving NSAIDs combined with chemotherapy experienced a significantly longer MST (106 vs 51 days; P = .035) and TTP (76 vs 44 days; P = .02) compared to dogs receiving NSAIDs alone. Intact dogs and those with metastatic disease had significantly shorter MST (31 vs 90 days, P = .018 and 49 vs 109 days, P = .037, respectively); intact dogs also had significantly shorter TTP (25 vs 63 days, P = .0003). This study suggests that a combination of NSAIDs and chemotherapy may improve outcomes in canine PC. Metastatic disease and being entire negatively influenced prognosis.

A xenogeneic DNA vaccination has been licensed for use in dogs with locally controlled stage II and III oral malignant melanoma (OMM). At present, there are limited outcome data for dogs with OMM treated with surgery and immunotherapy. The aim of this study is to retrospectively review the outcome and survival of 32 dogs affected by OMM that were treated with a combination of surgery and the xenogeneic DNA vaccination (with the addition of radiotherapy in some cases) and to determine the influence of surgical margins and delay in receiving vaccination. The overall median survival time (MST) was 335 days (95% CI: 301–540 days), and the overall median progression-free survival (PFS) was 160 days (mean 182 days, 95% CI: 132–232 days). Stage, completeness of surgical margins and delay in administration of the vaccine did not appear to statistically influence survival or PFS, although these results may reflect the low statistical power of the study due to small numbers. Further studies are required to assess whether the addition of any adjuvant treatment to surgery, including immunotherapy, is able to significantly prolong survival in cases of canine oral melanoma.

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