The VSSO’s first two research studies have been completed and preliminary results were presented at the 2008 Veterinary Cancer Society meeting in Seattle.

Dr. Nick Bacon presented Dr. Jim Farese’s study on appendicular chondrosarcoma in dogs, which found long survival times with surgery alone (overall median survival time was 979 days) and that histologic grade was prognostic for survival time. Median survival times were 6 years for dogs with grade I, 2.7 years for dogs with grade II, and 0.9 years for dogs with grade III chondrosarcomas.

Dr. Schallberger presented Dr. Ryan Cavanaugh’s study on feline apocrine gland anal sac adenocarcinomas. Twenty-three cats were included in the study, which is a great result considering that most of us only see one or two of these cases. Hypercalcemia was not observed in any cat and metastasis was rare (one cat with pulmonary metastasis and two cats with sublumbar lymph node metastasis). The tumors often appeared ulcerated and local tumor control was the most challenging aspect of case management, with local recurrence noted in eight cats. The median disease-free interval and survival time was 343 and 373 days, respectively.

The VSSO has had a successful year of continuing education and was well represented in a number of large professional meetings. We had a limb-sparing wet laboratory and two sessions (general and orthopedic surgical oncology) at the ACVS Symposium; a chest wall and intrathoracic surgical oncology session at the annual ECVS meeting in Basel, Switzerland; and a surgical oncology theme at the Science Week meeting in Australia.

Dr. Jolle Kirpensteijn has organized another surgical oncology session on osteosarcoma for the 2009 ECVS meeting in Nantes, France, from 2nd-4th July. Please support his efforts and the program with your attendance and participation. Catch Lance Armstrong in his comeback Tour de France while you are there!

Drs. Simon Kudnig and Bernard Séguin have been working hard to ensure authors submit their chapters for the first edition of Veterinary Surgical Oncology with Blackwell Publishing. As we are behind schedule, please ensure that you have submitted your chapters by 1st January 2009.