Several drugs are used for the treatement of cancer. They all inhibit tumor cell growth or are directly tumor cell destructive. Chemotherapy can be very effective for certain tumor types. Blood examination shows if an animal is suited for such a treament. The treatment lasts about an hour and the animals can go home afterwards.
Chemotherapy is administered by oral or intravenous route and is usually well tolerated. We use lower doses than in human medicine. Side effects are not frequent and usually limited to gastrointestinal irritation. The animals do not loose their hair, only in certain breeds (poodle, terriers, Bobtails, ...) coat changes can be seen. We are happy to inform you in detail about chemotherapy and side effects for individual cases.
Metronomic Chemotherapy
Metronomic chemotherapy is administered in very small doses, but continuously (as pills). As a result, the supporting tissue (stroma) and the vascular system of the tumor are attacked and damaged. If stroma and blood vessels disappear, the tumor cannot continue to grow, thus a stabilization of the tumor can be achieved with this therapy. Because of the very low dosages, virtually no side effects are seen. In contrast to conventional chemotherapy,metronomic chemotherapy is a life-long therapy.
This treatment method has been evaluated only in a few tumor types, but is increasingly used in human medicine, mainly in tumors that grow relativelyslowly, or in elderly patients.
At the AOI Center, metronomic therapy is the chemotherapy of choice when the animal would not tolerate conventional chemotherapy, the owners arenot prepared for conventional chemotherapy or this has already been tried and was unsuccessful.