Electrochemotherapy for the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma in cats: A preliminary report

Electroporation Enhances Bleomycin Efficacy in Cats with Periocular Carcinoma and Advanced Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head

“…As previously reported, neither cardiac arrhythmias nor respiratory treatment induced adverse effects were reported 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. In the ECT cohorts, patient oxygen saturation remained stable throughout the procedure.…”

“…Conversely, late adverse ocular effects were defined as clinical signs detected ≥3 months after the last ECT treatment. Meanwhile, in the cohort of bulky carcinomas, local adverse effects to be evaluated included necrosis, fistula formation, scarring and cheloids, and distant adverse effects included tumor lysis syndrome and thromboembolism 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. Although late toxicities have been described for radiation therapy, this issue has not been clarified to date for ECT both in human and veterinary oncology, especially because limited information is available regarding possible damage inflicted by electric pulses to different ocular regions 22, 24.…”

“…It aims at improving the efficacy of chemotherapy agents such as bleomycin or cisplatin by increasing their uptake into tumor cells by the administration of permeabilizing electric pulses 16. This technique has been used successfully in cats to treat nasal planum carcinoma and as an adjuvant for the treatment of incompletely excised soft tissue sarcoma, obtaining a high percentage of responses as well as long term control 17, 18, 19, 20. Its use in the head region has been limited to date both in veterinary and human oncology because of concern for possible adverse effects for the eye and risk of massive tumor lysis 21.…”

Pinnal squamous cell carcinoma in cats and the effectiveness of treatment with radical pinnectomy

“…It has been observed that SCC develop in animals which are exposed to actinic radiation for a prolonged period of time (Gustafson Beaver and Knauer 1975;Harvey et al 2001;Henderson and Horne 2003;Lanz and Wood 2004;Matousek 2004;Marignac 2005;Fossum 2007;Spugnini et al 2009;Cunha et al 2010). For this reason, it is seen more frequently in tropical regions (Harvey et al 2001).…”

“…The disease begins as actinic dermatitis (AD) lesions (Madewell and Theilen 1987;Harvey et al 2001) with erythema, crusting and desquamation constituting early signs of AD (Peters-Kennedy et al 2008). AD develops into SCC by neoplastic transformation in animals which are exposed to extended periods of actinic radiation (Harvey et al 2001;Matousek 2004;Peters-Kennedy et al 2008;Spugnini et al 2009). Clinically, lesions that are characterised by erosion, thickening (Harvey et al 2001;Fossum 2007), ulceration andcrusting, stand out (Gustafson Beaver andKnauer 1975;Madewell and Theilen 1987;Schick 1994;Harvey et al 2001;Henderson and Horne 2003;Schick and Marignac 2005;Fossum 2007;Peters-Kennedy et al 2008).…”