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Canine Fibrosarcoma

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Last Modified: October 8, 2006

Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts,"

After our 12-year-old dog's neutering and perianal adenoma surgical removal, we found out that one of the growths was a low-grade fibrosarcoma. Is more surgery usually required in these cases? What do you think about Carravet Acemannan Immunostimulant?

Lili Duda, VMD, Section Editor of the OncoLink Veterinary Oncology Menu, responds:

Acemannan has not proven to be an effective adjunct to the treatment of fibrosarcomas or other cancers in dogs and cats. For low-grade soft tissue sarcomas (such as fibrosarcomas, among others), complete surgical excision with adequate margins is the treatment of choice. Keep in mind that what is ?adequate? is determined by both the surgeon who removed the tumor and the pathologist who evaluated the surgical margins under the microscope. If there were inadequate surgical margins, a second wider surgery is recommended in an attempt to achieve negative margins. If additional surgery is not an option, radiation therapy to the area is the recommended treatment. For tumors that are treated appropriately, the recurrence rate is low (less than 10 to 20%). For tumors that are not treated appropriately, recurrence is very likely, but it can be somewhat difficult to predict how rapidly the tumor will recur, or how rapidly the recurrence will progress. Some tumors may grow quickly and recur within weeks to months and, while others might grow fairly slowly and not recur for a year or more.