Surgical Treatment of Vaccine-Associated
Feline
Sarcomas
Reproduced with permission from our kind
friends at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
This article was published in their organizations "Veterinary
and Biomedical Sciences Extension Newsletter" February 2000.
Surgical Treatment of
Vaccine-Associated Feline Sarcomas
Taken from: Wood, C.A., et al.
Proceedings of the 19th Annual Veterinary Cancer Society Conference
November 13-16 1999, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Iowa State Univ. Extension Vet-Med; Vol. 6, Issue 1; Jan. 2000
With appropriate preoperative planning
and aggressive surgical resection of vaccine-associated feline sarcomas (VAFS) many cats
can obtain a long-term remission or cure. Eighteen (18) cats were treated with surgical
excision of the primary tumor at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
The median age of the population was 8 years with 7 cats being spayed females and the rest
being neutered males. All but 2 cats had received documented vaccine administration in the
site of tumor development in the previous 2 years. On average, the tumors measured 4.2 cm
at their largest dimension with a range of 1.5 cm to 9.0 cm.
Complete surgical excision, based on histopathologic exam of tissue margins, was achieved
in 10/18 cats. Seven of 18 patients had tumor recurrence following surgical excision of
the primary mass. Of the seven cats with tumor recurrence, 5 had an incomplete excision
and 2 had a complete excision. One of the 2 cats with a complete surgical excision died
112 days post-operatively of an abdominal metastasis.
Median disease-free interval for all cats was 124 days (average 221 days, range of 38 to
572 days). For cats that received complete excision of the primary tumor median
disease-free interval was 221 days (average 269 days, range of 79 to 570 days). Cats with
incomplete excision had shorter disease-free interval of 99 days (average 168 days with a
range of 38 to 572 days). Cats with large tumors and incomplete surgical excisions had a
poorer prognosis. Early intervention with aggressive surgical resection can greatly
increase the odds of good disease control and a long-term remission.
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