Canine Osteosarcoma

Introduction
Osteosarcoma is the commonest malignant bone tumour in dogs. It is highly metastatic with a low 2-year survival rate, with the majority of patients dying due to pulmonary metastases, regardless of treatment. Osteosarcoma arises primarily in the metaphyses of long bones and the forelimb is more commonly affected than the hind-limb, with the distal radius being the commonest location. Patients typically present with lameness, pain or swelling, Reported poor prognostic factors include elevated alkaline phosphatase (ALKP) at diagnosis (specifically bone-induced alkaline phosphatase), and increased body weight. The majority of treatments for osteosarcoma tackle both 1) the pain due to bone disease 2) the micro metastasis presumed to be present at diagnosis. Options for the limb include analgesia drugs, bisphosphonates, amputation, surgical limb-sparing and radiation limb-sparing. Chemotherapy protocols are typically maximally-tolerated doses (MTD) of carboplatin or doxorubicin. The exact role of metronomic/maintenance chemotherapy post MTD has not been defined.

Materials and Methods: VSSO Symposium 2016
During the VSSO symposium in Napa, California (2016), osteosarcoma was discussed. A pre-event electronic survey was sent to the VSSO listserve with questions pertaining to osteosarcoma and similar questions were reviewed during the meeting with live polling. During the VSSO discussion a maximum of 99 oncology interested veterinary surgeons, including diplomate specialists of the various colleges, were actively involved using live polling. All polling answers were recorded.  [...]