Quality of life assessment in dogs and cats receiving chemotherapy – a review of current methods

Vøls, Kåre Kryger; Heden, Martin A.; Kristensen, Annemarie T.; Sandøe, Peter

doi:10.1111/vco.12242

Cited by 26 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Examples in human medicine include the EuroQol [56], Sickness Impact Assessment (SIP) [57] and the SF-36 [58]. Readers are recommended to refer to Vols et al [29] and Belshaw et al [40] for reviews of quality of life tools used within veterinary medicine. Specific oncology quality of life assessment tools are also available (for example: De Haes et al [59]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chemotherapy can cause detrimental side effects in animals [29] and humans [28]. The treatment is non-discriminatory and can have a toxic effect on diseased and healthy tissue [30], resulting in myelosuppression, gastrointestinal toxicosis and nausea in human patients [31,32,33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result of regular emesis, patients can experience weakness, fatigue, anaemia and fever-type symptoms which can result in weight loss. Behavioural changes, reported within quality of life assessments in neoplasia cases [29], with pets becoming progressively more lethargic and depressed (unresponsive, inactive and withdrawn with altered eating and sleeping patterns) resulting in reduced interaction with their owners and the environment which can be upsetting for owners. However it should be remembered that the remit of chemotherapy is to shrink or prevent spread of tumours, and many of the perceived negative side effects should be considered alongside the beneficial effect this treatment can have on prognosis and survival time in canine and feline cancer patients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Quality of life assessments are often employed to make judgments on an animal’s welfare status [29,39,40]. Yeates and Main [41] advocate that a quality of life assessment should be included by the veterinary team when considering therapeutic options for animals suffering from malignant neoplasia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Factors Which Influence Owners When Deciding to Use Chemotherapy in Terminally Ill Pets

Williams

Phillips

Byrd

2017

Animals

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Simple SummaryCancer is as common amongst pets as it in humans. Chemotherapy can be integrated into treatment regimes for terminally ill pets to attempt to shrink tumours to extend life expectancy, but it does not cure cancer and it can have negative side effects including vomiting, depression and behavioral changes. To date, little research has been undertaken to explore owners’ decisions whether or not to treat their animals with chemotherapy. Seventy-eight dog and cat owners completed an online questionnaire to determine if they would opt for chemotherapy if their pet was diagnosed with cancer, and asked how they thought their pet’s quality of life would be affected. Fifty-eight percent of respondents would not use chemotherapy largely due to their previous experience of it. Seventy-two percent over estimated pet survival time post chemotherapy, with most people believing it would lead to remission or a cure. Owners expected their pets to be less active, sleep more and play less, reducing their quality of life. Common side effects associated with chemotherapy were not rated as acceptable. The results suggest pet owners would benefit from an increased understanding of the positive and negative impacts of chemotherapy when initially discussing treatment options with the veterinary team.AbstractChemotherapy is a commonly integrated treatment option within human and animal oncology regimes. Limited research has investigated pet owners’ treatment decision-making in animals diagnosed with malignant neoplasia. Dog and cat owners were asked to complete an online questionnaire to elucidate factors which are key to the decision making process. Seventy-eight respondents completed the questionnaire in full. Fifty-eight percent of pet owners would not elect to treat pets with chemotherapy due to the negative impact of the associated side effects. Seventy-two percent of respondents over estimated pet survival time post chemotherapy, indicating a general perception that it would lead to remission or a cure. Vomiting was considered an acceptable side effect but inappetence, weight loss and depression were considered unacceptable. Owners did expect animals’ to be less active, sleep more and play less, but common side effects were not rated as acceptable despite the potential benefits of chemotherapy. Based on the results, veterinary teams involved with oncology consultations should establish if clients have prior experience of cancer treatments and their expectations of survival time. Quality of life assessments should also be implemented during initial oncology consultations and conducted regularly during chemotherapy courses to inform client decision making and to safe guard animal welfare.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Factors Which Influence Owners When Deciding to Use Chemotherapy in Terminally Ill Pets

Williams

Phillips

Byrd

2017

Animals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Wir differenzieren unsere Zuneigung zum Tier äußerst stark. Unterscheiden lassen sich 3 «Zuneigungsgruppen»: [10].…”

Section: Tumorerkrankungen Beim Tierunclassified

Tiermedizinische Publikationen in Complementary Medicine Research

Walkenhorst¹

2017

Complement Med Res

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Health‐related quality of life in dogs treated with electrochemotherapy and/or interleukin‐12 gene electrotransfer

Milevoj

Tozon

Ličen

et al. 2020

Veterinary Medicine & Sci

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the owners' perception of health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) of dogs after treatment with electrochemotherapy (ECT) alone or combined with interleukin‐12 gene electrotransfer (IL‐12 GET) and/or surgery. The owners of 44 dogs with histologically different tumours were offered the »Cancer Treatment Form« at least one month after treatment. The owners assessed their dogs’ quality of life (QoL) after treatment as good (mean 7.4) (from 1–very poor to 10–excellent) and the general health compared with the initial diagnosis of cancer as improving (mean 3.9) (from 1–worse to 5–better). The assessment of the current QoL was better within the group of dogs treated with non‐invasive treatment (ECT and/or IL‐12 GET only), compared with those that received invasive treatment, where, in addition to ECT and/or IL‐12 GET, surgery was performed ( p < .05). The owners of dogs that achieved an objective response (OR) to the treatment assessed the QoL as significantly better compared with those whose dogs did not respond to the treatment ( p < .05). The majority of the owners (86.4%) would opt for the therapy again, regardless of the financial costs. In conclusion, the results of this study demonstrate that the majority of the owners of dogs assessed their dogs’ QoL as good and felt that it improved after the treatment, especially in dogs, treated with non‐invasive treatment and in those that responded to the treatment . This supports further use of ECT and IL‐12 GET as suitable methods for the treatment of selected tumours in veterinary medicine.

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Quality of life assessment in dogs and cats receiving chemotherapy – a review of current methods

Cited by 26 publications

References 26 publications

Factors Which Influence Owners When Deciding to Use Chemotherapy in Terminally Ill Pets

Factors Which Influence Owners When Deciding to Use Chemotherapy in Terminally Ill Pets

Tiermedizinische Publikationen in Complementary Medicine Research

Health‐related quality of life in dogs treated with electrochemotherapy and/or interleukin‐12 gene electrotransfer

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