Colorado Animal Specialty & Emergency (CASE)

Surgery is one of the most common modalities used to treat cancer in pets. In many cases, a well-planned and executed surgery can be curative. In other cases, surgery is more palliative in nature with the specific goal of alleviating discomfort. In all cases, whenever we consider surgery as a potential treatment option for your pet, our number one goal is to improve your pet’s quality of life.

Before considering surgery, Dr. Prpich will have a consultation with you to evaluate your pet and discuss your concerns. During this consultation, Dr. Prpich will provide information about how the tumor behaves (tumor biology) and what this means for your pet and your family. She will then discuss the different ways in which surgery can be utilized and what other modalities we may consider. Dr. Prpich will also discuss the risks of surgery, as well as what the recovery period will look like. The goal of this consultation is for you to walk away with a very clear understanding of all your options so that you can make an informed decision about how you would like to proceed.

Cancer surgery is often very intricate, and it can involve multiple body systems. In order to better visualize a mass and how it is associated with normal anatomy, advanced imaging is often performed pre-operatively to allow for surgical planning. This usually involves a CT scan, or occasionally an MRI, to allow the surgeon to visualize the mass in three dimensions. Having this information pre-operatively allows the surgeon to better plan for any additional measures that may be needed to maintain your pet’s safety and optimize results.

If you make the decision to include surgery as a treatment for your pet with cancer, you want to make sure that the surgeon you choose is very experienced in cancer surgery to achieve the best outcome. This will result in a higher chance for a cure, a smooth recovery process with minimal post-operative pain and discomfort, lower rates of complications and a superior cosmetic outcome.

How is a surgical oncologist different from a boarded surgeon?

A true veterinary surgical oncologist is a surgeon who has completed a surgical residency program and then went on to perform an additional year of training to become an ACVS Fellow of Surgical Oncology.

During a residency program, surgeons are focused on mastering anatomy, pathophysiology, and surgical techniques. During a surgical residency program, there is a requirement of how many mass removals that need to be performed to credential, but there is no requirement to spend time being mentored by a medical oncologist or radiation oncologist. This is really a key difference between a boarded surgeon and an ACVS Fellow in Surgical Oncology. The ACVS Surgical Oncology Fellowship is a very focused 1-year program that immerses the ACVS Diplomate in a training facility and mandates time spent with medical and radiation oncologists to enable the surgeon to embody a multidisciplinary approach to the art of cancer care. Finally, there is also a case log that is required during the ACVS Surgical Oncology Fellowship program which ensures Fellows perform a certain number of very highly specialized surgical oncology procedures to ensure mastery in these more challenging cases.

Currently, there are only 4 institutions worldwide that meet the strict requirements to train an ACVS Fellow in Surgical Oncology. There are less than 50 practicing ACVS Fellows in Surgical Oncology worldwide, which demonstrates the unique skillset and knowledge that an ACVS Fellow in Surgical Oncology can provide.

At the Pet Cancer Center at CASE, our surgical oncologist, radiation oncologist and medical oncologists collaborate on all cases to provide exceptional cancer care for your pet and family. We are one of only a handful of dedicated pet cancer centers in the United States of America that can offer this true multidisciplinary approach.