Treatment
We strive to ensure that our treatments are kind and gentle, without toxicity. During all phases of treatment, Veterinary Cancer Care focuses on our patients’ quality of life. Newer chemotherapy protocols are multi-agent, with more intensified treatment that lasts from four to six months. Because they are not receiving continuous chemotherapy, patients maintain a higher quality of life and show reduced drug resistance.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs or chemical agents to help fight cancer. This treatment works by attacking rapidly growing cancerous cells in the body. Each individual chemotherapy drug works through different mechanisms.
Cryosurgery
Cryosurgery (also know as cryotherapy) is the use of extreme cold produced by liquid nitrogen to destroy abnormal tissue. The cold temperature freezes tissue and causes cellular death. It is used to treat tumors inside and outside the body.
Radiation
Radiation therapy is used for long-term control and and/or cure of some tumor types. It can be used alone or in combination with surgery and local or systemic chemotherapy. The combination of surgery and radiation therapy is one of the most effective cancer treatment options available to veterinarians. VCC is proud to offer state-of-the-art radiation therapy to our pets at a human facility. Our partnership with Colorado State University Radiation Therapy Services and The Cancer Institute of New Mexico make this possible.
Individualized Care
It is important to remember that each individual’s disease is unique, just as is each pet. Veterinary Cancer Care will work with you to ensure that we utilize the appropriate treatments for each patient’s situation. We refer patients to other institutions for treatment and other clinical trials when necessary.
Clinical Trials
Intralesional (Local) chemotherapy:
Intralesional chemotherapy is a clinical trial; results are yet to be published. This procedure is used palliatively to control pain, to prevent or delay recurrence of tumor, or to decrease the size of a tumor that has not been surgically removed. Intralesional chemotherapy is also referred to as intratumoral or local chemotherapy.
Feline Injection site sarcoma
The standard of care for an injection site sarcoma is aggressive surgery with a minimum of 2cm margins wide and deep in combination with full course radiation therapy. With surgery and radiation, the reported disease-free interval ranges from 13-19 months and the median survival is 23 months. Metastasis is reported to be between 15-24%.
With surgery alone, the reported median time to first recurrence is 2 months with conservative surgery, versus 9 months for cats treated with aggressive surgery.
VCC wants to help cats with injection site sarcoma. Local chemotherapy has showed promising results but we need to treat more patients to statistically prove this in a publication. The trial is non-funded but we offer a 25% discount on all services provided.
Please refer the patient two weeks after either a marginal or radical resection. The entire tissue should be submitted for histopath to comment on grade and margins (ideally to Colorado State University but not necessary). Local Carboplatin and sesame oil to be administered every other week for a total of 6 treatments.
Canine Oral Melanoma Vaccine
Veterinary Cancer Care is proud to announce we now have the Canine Oral Melanoma Vaccine for all stages of K9 oral melanoma that have local tumor control. Because this vaccine has been granted conditional licensure it will only be distributed to board certified veterinary oncologists. The treatment involves four biweekly injections then boosters at 6 months intervals. Inflammatory reactions at the injection sites have been noted in some cases in a preliminary study. Canine Melanoma Vaccine is produced with a human gene of tyrosinase inserted into a small ring of DNA. When used in conjunction with surgery and/or radiation therapy to treat the local tumor cells, this type of vaccine has been shown to extend the survival time for dogs with advanced stages of melanoma from 5 months to 389 days.
K-9 Immunity
K-9 Immunity is a veterinary immune modulating health supplement intended an adjunct to conventional therapy for cancer. As with most dietary supplements, there is a lack of properly controlled clinical studies in veterinary patients using this product. Veterinary Cancer Care is proud to announce a new partially funded clinical trial using K-9 ImmunityTM for all stages of canine lymphoma, mast cell tumor, osteosarcoma and splenic hemangiosarcoma. The company will provide the supplement to eligible patients free of cost. Eligible patients will need to have full staging performed at client’s expense. The supplement will be administered in addition to standard conventional treatment as indicated for each tumor type. Tumor remission status, disease free interval, survival time, conventional therapy side effects, and overall quality of life will be assessed and compared to historical controls.
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