Background

The antitumoral effect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy have damaging effect not only on the neoplastic cells but also on the normal tissues. The metastasis and neoplastic growth is directly related to the capacity to generate new blood vessels for irrigation. Thalidomide is an angiogenic inhibitor and therefore it could be a potential agent for the treatment of the canine TVT (hypervascular tumor).

Aims

This study describes Thalidomide's effect on canine TVT.

Methods

Six canine patients with TVT were treated with 8mg/kg of Thalidomide orally for 7 days, followed by descending doses to day 14. Biopsies were performed at day 0 (diagnosis), day 7 and day 14. These biopsies were processed in the immunochemistry laboratory. The angiogenic activity was measured by the quantification of the vascular area in the stained plates measured in square micrometers(µ²).The morphometric computer program used was Image Pro-Plus (Media Cybernetics, USA).

Results

Table 1. Vascular area observed at day 0,7,14 in (µ²)

A reduction in the vascular area was observed.

Conclusion

Thalidomide as an anti-angiogenic therapy is slower than chemotherapy which kills neoplastic cells in 15 days., This is possibly due more to the neovascular blocking effect rather than antitumoral cells effect. It could be used as a complementary therapy to traditional antineoplastic therapies (surgery, chemo, radiation).

Financed by FONDECYT # 1020980