Carboplatinand Doxorubicin Combination Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Appendicular Osteosarcoma in the Dog

Twenty-four client-owned dogs with histologically diagnosed appendicular osteosarcoma (OSA) and no evidence of gross metastatic disease were treated with amputation or limb salvage followed by combination chemotherapy consisting of carboplatin (175 mg/ m(2) IV, day 1) and doxorubicin (15 mg/m(2) IV, day 2) given on a 21-day cycle for a maximum of 4 cycles. Hematologic and gastrointestinal adverse effects were graded according to National Cancer Institute guidelines. Thoracic radiographs were obtained before the 3rd chemotherapy cycle and then every 2 months. Median disease-free interval was 195 days (95% confidence interval 111–228 days) and median survival was 235 days (95% confidence interval 150–283 days). Two patients required dose reductions: 1 for grade 3 thrombocytopenia and 1 for grade 3 adverse gastrointestinal effects. Patients with a longer duration of clinical signs before definitive diagnosis and surgery (greater than 30 days) were more likely to develop progressive disease and to die or be euthanized because of progressive disease on any day; hazard ratios were 3.0 (P= .02) and 3.7 (P= .02), respectively. In conclusion, although this combination chemotherapy protocol was well tolerated, it did not provide any improvement over historical single-agent protocols.