Laser Surgery For Oral Cancer in Dogs
ByWhen a dog lover is contemplating a surgery to remove a canine cancer, we should remember there are different ways to do surgeries.
Depending on the way the surgery is done, certain things can be improved upon that would otherwise make recovery harder.
Some of these are:
- pain
- blood loss
- swelling
One of the challenges when a vet faces when removing a tumor in the mouth, or some other areas, is bleeding.
Blood less makes recovery tougher on the dog. Bleeding also tends to block the view of the surgeon, since the nurse is always having to dab the site and sponge off the blood. This slows the procedure down and the dog has to be anesthetized for a longer duration.
There are different ways to control blood loss. The most common is “tying off” a bleeding vessel using a piece of suture material. Sometimes we simply use a small instrument to clamp the bleeding vessel to make it stop hemorrhaging.
The mouth is an area that is difficult to control blood loss using these traditional techniques. The clamps fall off and the bleeders are hard to tie off.
This is where the surgical laser comes in. A laser is simply a high intensity beam of energy that can be used in surgery to separate tissue. The great thing about the laser is that is seals off the ends of small blood vessels. This stops a lot of the blood loss that can affect our dogs when they faced with a surgery like this.
The laser seals of nerves and lymphatics too. This tends to decrease pain and swelling too, but I always recommend medication for pain and inflammation, regardless.
So consider the use of a surgical laser, especially if there is a growth that needs to be removed in an area like the mouth. Common tumors in this area are melanomas, fibrosarcomas, squamous cell carcinomas, and different types of epuli (an epulis one of a group of mouth tumors).
There are a fair number of veterinarians that use this tool, including myself, and it really helps make things easier on our loved dogs.
Best to all,
Dr D
About the Author
Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM is known as the "dog cancer vet" and is author of Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Beyond Surgery, Chemotherapy & Radiation. Visit his blog and sign up free to get the latest information about canine cancer. Go to http://DogCancerBlog.com.
9 Comments
March 15th, 2009 at 3:37 am
Hello:
My name is Mark and I have a six year old Greman Shepard with a bright
red raised lump on his tongue.My vet put him on antibiotic for ten days and nothing changed.He said he could do biopsie but I didn’t want to disturb it.He said speculating that it was probably a tumor.It now has gotten a little bigger.My dog is still eating and seems normal other than it seems to be licking more.I guess my question is what are his odds of a normal life if its removed.Its about the size of a penny and not quite in the center of tongue half way back in his mouth.Thank you
March 16th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Mark,
your vet needs to answer this question. He/she is the one managing the case and is able to see what is going on, and he/she is the one holding the scalpel, which impacts the outcome of surgery. Most dogs do well without portions of their tongue. You should get it dealt with. Also, don’t hesitate to ask your vet these types of questions, as their opinions are what you are paying for…
Best of luck,
D
April 12th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I did alot of reading on the web regarding lazer surgery for my dogs tounge tumor. I had received an estimate to cut the tumor out, but because of what you write here and what i have read about the CO2 lazer I tried to hunt a vet down that uses it. After having a really hard time finding the CO2 lazer i had to give up and went to a Animal hospital locally who had a lazer. I felt really stupid when the doctor informed me that using lazer surgery on a cancerous tumor would be inappropiate and if anyone said it could be done it would be grounds for “malpractice”. Something about cancer cells spreading…I felt stupid and i wasted alot of time trying to find this safer and easier way to do a likely very painful procedure. Also, one vet says tumor out $463, the lazer hosp wants $2,200-$3,500. After a misdiagnois of lock jaw disease, blood work and Xrays im already up to $800 and no one has even treated the tumor yet. wildly varying prices and approaches have us really confused. So only a lazer if it’s been determined not to be cancer? Any referal to a vet in san diego that has experience removing tounge tumors without having to hawk the farm?
April 15th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Dear pet owner,
what a bad experience!
What you write is amazing. No, laser surgery on cancers is not malpractice. Here are some examples:
here is information from the Mayo Clinic. Maybe you’ve heard of them?
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer-surgery/CA00033
taken from a cancer treatment info site:
http://training.seer.cancer.gov/module_cancer_treatment/unit1_surgery4_techniques.html
another:
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0748798308000279
I will address your question in more detail in the upcoming Webinar:
http://dogcancervet.com
I am unable to give you a recommendation, I am sorry,
Best,
D
April 17th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
My dog has an oral tumor on the outer side of her gum area. It bleeds sometimes, what can I put on it to stop bleeding. My dog is old and has CGH the vet thinks sutgery and chemo too severe for her. Thanks
May 29th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Once an oral cancer is removed by laser surgery can it be removed again if it grows back. Why does it grow back so quickly? The dog seems to be ok except for this growth which has come back larger. Is there anything that can slow this growh?
July 6th, 2009 at 6:55 am
My 8 year old rottie has a tumor on the upper jaw between 2 teeth, my vet remove as much as the mass as possible. My vet says the mass will grow back and put my dog in pain and says we should consider putting him to sleep, he taked about surgery but said it was difficult due to location of the mass. I dont want to give up on him with out trying to help him but all so dont want to put him through hell
please help
August 11th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Dear Sir,
My Dog (It is in India, a Indian Dog) is sufferring with big mouth tumor looks like big cauliflower florette on the upper jaw and it is fully spreaded from right side to the left side.
Currently he is in treatment with Vet Hospital, Veperi, Chennai, India.
Our Doctors said it is not possible for open operation as well as laser surgery.
And now they are giving him Chemo therapy (an injection through saline) and doctors are telling that the tumour will shrink after 2-3 dozes.
Still the blood work result has to come.I love my dog a lot and i treat him as like my brother.
Doctor, please advice is there is any way that my dog can be treated and cured?
Expecting your reply as soons as posssible.
Regards
Sona
October 8th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Our 9 year old Akita was just dignosted with cancer on her toung. Vet is sending it out to see what kind of cancer it is, Fast or slow. Said they couldn’t remove it because of where it is. Could it be lasered off. Is there anything else we can do to slow the spreading of it. She is such a wounderful dog. Any help would be GREATLY appreated.
God Bless,
Tama B.