Efficacy of radiation therapy for the treatment of macroscopic canine oral soft tissue sarcoma.

This retrospective study evaluated the efficacy of radiotherapy used alone in macroscopic oral soft tissue sarcoma. Thirty-one dogs qualified for the study. Twenty dogs received curative radiotherapy (median total dose: 52.5 Gy) and eleven dogs were treated palliatively (3 x 8 Gy or 5 x 6 Gy). The time-to-progression for the curatively-treated dogs was 333 days versus 180 days for the palliatively-treated dogs (p=0.134). The overall survival was 331 days for the curative group and 310 days for the palliative group (p =0.2292). The results of this study suggest that radiation therapy is useful in the treatment of oral soft tissue sarcoma.