title: Efficacy of systemic adjuvant therapies administered to dogs after excision of oral malignant melanomas: 151 cases (2001-2012).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine prognostic factors for and compare outcome among dogs with oral malignant melanoma following excision with or without various systemic adjuvant therapies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective case series.
  
  
  METHODS
  151 dogs with naturally occurring oral malignant melanomas treated by excision with or without adjuvant therapies from 2001 to 2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case accrual was solicited from Veterinary Society of Surgical Oncology members via an email list service. Information collected from case records included signalment, tumor staging, tumor characteristics, type of surgical excision, histologic diagnosis, adjuvant therapy, and survival time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall median survival time was 346 days. Results of multivariate analysis indicated that tumor size, patient age, and intralesional excision (vs marginal, wide, or radical excision) were considered poor prognostic indicators. All other demographic and clinical variables were not significantly associated with survival time after adjusting for the aforementioned 3 variables. A clear survival benefit was not evident with any systemic adjuvant therapy, including vaccination against melanoma or chemotherapy; however, the number of dogs in each treatment group was small. Ninety-eight dogs received no postoperative adjuvant therapy, and there was no difference in survival time between dogs that did (335 days) and did not (352 days) receive systemic adjuvant therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For dogs with oral malignant melanoma, increasing tumor size and age were negative prognostic factors. Complete excision of all macroscopic tumor burden improved survival time. Long-term survival was possible following surgery alone. Although systemic adjuvant therapy was not found to improve survival time, this could have been due to type II error.
authors: Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608.
authors: Sarah E
authors: SE
authors: Boston
authors: Xiaomin
authors: X
authors: Lu
authors: William T N
authors: WT
authors: Culp
authors: Vincenzo
authors: V
authors: Montinaro
authors: Giorgio
authors: G
authors: Romanelli
authors: Robert M
authors: RM
authors: Dudley
authors: Julius M
authors: JM
authors: Liptak
authors: Lisa A
authors: LA
authors: Mestrinho
authors: Paolo
authors: P
authors: Buracco
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000662:veterinary*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000601:surgery / Q000662:veterinary*; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000601:surgery / Q000662:veterinary*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D019496:Cancer Vaccines