A veterinary surgical oncologist is a board-certified veterinary surgeon credentialed with the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (DACVS) who has completed a surgery residency and passed the examinations and requirements to become a small animal surgeon. After the residency, additional training in the form of a fellowship in the field of cancer surgery must be completed. The additional fellowship training is not only a clinical program, but also involves courses in cancer biology, cancer genetics, radiation biology and cancer pathology. The fellowship program also has a research component focused on advancing the field of cancer treatment.
Surgical oncology is the removal of cancerous tissue via surgery. Seventy percent of solid tumors are cured by advanced surgery techniques without the need for additional therapy.
Our surgical oncology team is committed to developing the best treatment plan for each patient. At VCA South Shore (Weymouth) Animal Hospital, we offer surgical management of numerous tumor types, including, but not limited to:
Age is, fortunately, not a disease. The average age of a surgical oncology patient is between 10 and 16 years. We find that our older patients frequently do just as well as younger patients under anesthesia and can often be cured with surgery alone for localized tumors. However, we are mindful that, as pets age, they often have concurrent diseases which we must take into consideration when coming up with the anesthesia plan as well as the treatment plan.
Our surgical oncology team is educated in all options for treating tumors. Thus, a surgical oncology consultation will provide you with all of the options for treatment, based on your goal for your pet. If you’re unsure, the best way to make a decision is by getting all of the information you need to make an educated choice. A consultation appointment with the surgical oncology service is an opportunity for you to get a complete understanding of your pet’s cancer diagnosis and prognosis (outcome), learn which diagnostic tests are recommended and hear about all of the treatment options available. Then you’ll be able to make a choice that’s right for you, your family and your pet.
The prognosis for your pet is dependent on the type of tumor, grade of the tumor (how aggressive the tumor is seen to be on the biopsy test), whether the cancer has spread anywhere (stage of the disease) and the treatment option you decide to proceed with. Our surgical oncology team will recommend the necessary diagnostics to determine the stage of the disease (extent of spread, if any) and provide you with expected survival times from published veterinary oncology studies.
A CT is a detailed imaging scan that can aid in determining if there are any early signs of metastasis (spread of cancer cells) in the chest or abdomen. It is also helpful in providing information helpful for developing a surgical plan. Oftentimes, tumors are excised with wide margins, meaning that the tumor and a certain amount of normal tissue around and behind the tumor will be removed. This ensures that all of the cancer has been removed, thus minimizing the chance of local recurrence and distant spread. CT allows the most accurate development of a surgical plan due to greater visualization of the mass and surrounding tissue.
