A soft tissue sarcoma (STS) study, which is being led by Tom Cave, the team of pathologists at Veterinary Pathology Group (VPG) Histology, and Jonathan Bray from Fitzpatrick Referrals, will be the largest piece of research into these canine tumours undertaken to date. The research will look at what happened to over 15,000 dogs with STS after surgery to remove their tumours.
Soft tissue sarcoma is one of the most common malignant tumours in dogs. It can metastasise and is especially prone to local recurrence if surgery fails to effect completely removal. Unlike in some tumours, these problems may take over two years to develop. Tom commented: “To study STS you need to allow a long follow-up time to fully understand the outcome of treatment. With some tumours you can revisit the patient one year on and understand what happened, but with STS you need to continue follow-up for at least two to three years or you risk overestimating the success of treatment.&r
