advice on radiotherapy for Nasal Carcinoma

[Jodierb]

My 13 year old cat has recently been diagnosed with Nasal Carcinoma (nasal cancer). We got an urgent referral to a specialist to which he has had a CT scan which confirmed he has cancer.
I just spoke to the oncology team about possible treatment options for him.
The first option would be definitive intent therapy that would last about 3 or 4 weeks and most likely he would have to board there the entire time. This would allow him the best possible chance at having a better quality of life and live longer. The oncologist said as his is very aggressive it would be on the lower end of the life span scale, so about a year predicted.

The second radiation treatment would be palliative, which means he would only be in there for 5 days and has a possible life span of 6 more months.

With regards to all this I just wanted to see if anyone has had any experience with these treatments for their cats?
I have never heard of any cat going through chemo or radiation honestly. Trying to figure out what the right thing to do for my cat is.

 

[di and bob]

I have been there many times......and chose not to do the radiation therapies because it is so stressful and i didn't want their last days to be full of fear. But that was my feelings. if they said it would eliminate the cancer, I would go for it. but I'm so sorry, in your case. and mine, it all sounds palliative. It is entirely up to you of course, but with my cats we got good pain meds and just loved them until we could tell they were having more bad days than good. Quantity of life is not as important as quality. Listen to your vet, ask them what they would do if it was their cat. Most of mine had mouth cancer and Prednisone did really help with their quality of life and helped with many of their horrible symptoms by shrinking the tumors. I had people tell me how I could give it long term when it could affect their kidneys, but I told them all, if it helps with their quality of life, I am giving it as long as they need. THEY ARE DYING! Several cats had weeks left to live and the prednisone kept them going a year, a couple two years! Definitely have pain control handy, preferably liquid or injection if you can give it. Near the end, sometimes nothing will help anymore and emergencies at the office, etc. can keep a vet too busy to perform euthanization at a needed time. (we had a cattle truck overturn and every vet in town was there when we needed ours.) so be prepared. I'm so sorry you have to go through this. i know how hard it is. The most important thing right now is to give that little one all the love and comfort you can. He needs you most of all. bless you for loving him so much..........

 

[Antonio65]

My 13 year old cat has recently been diagnosed with Nasal Carcinoma (nasal cancer). We got an urgent referral to a specialist to which he has had a CT scan which confirmed he has cancer.
I just spoke to the oncology team about possible treatment options for him.
The first option would be definitive intent therapy that would last about 3 or 4 weeks and most likely he would have to board there the entire time. This would allow him the best possible chance at having a better quality of life and live longer. The oncologist said as his is very aggressive it would be on the lower end of the life span scale, so about a year predicted.

The second radiation treatment would be palliative, which means he would only be in there for 5 days and has a possible life span of 6 more months.

With regards to all this I just wanted to see if anyone has had any experience with these treatments for their cats?
I have never heard of any cat going through chemo or radiation honestly. Trying to figure out what the right thing to do for my cat is.

Hi J Jodierb , I'm sorry to read what you're going through with your cat.
I know how hard it is because the cat that you see in my avatar went through the same hell. Her name was Lola.

In the summer of 2011 Lola (at that time she was 11 yo) started sneezing too often. After a long course of different antibiotics in the case it was a rhinitis, the vet referred me to a specialist. Through a rhinoscopy it was assessed there was a small mass inside one of Lola's nostrils. A histology of the tissue was done and it was an Indifferentiated Nasal Carcinoma.

I was referred to an Oncologist who gave me two options. One was to have my cat treated with radiotherapy (with all the costs and stress involved), the other was to let my cat be, because even in the best case scenario I would have given my cat not longer than a year of life filled with pain and stress.

I chose the first option, I contacted the only facility we have here in Italy that does radiotherapy.
There, they too gave me two more options. One was a definitive treatment, 4 weeks with daily radiotherapy sessions, the other was a palliative treatment with much fewer sessions, maybe just a week. The cat had to be boarded at the facility which was 230 miles from home.
I chose the definitive treatment. The staff at the facility told me that no cat had ever gone such a long treatment at their facility, and that by literature available, the longest survival time after the treatment was less than a year. They asked if I was sure to put my cat through such a hell for so a short time gained. I said I was.

Lola had a CT scan done to assess the size, shape and exact position of the cancer, then a week later the therapy began.
I left my cat there, but would go and visit with her every weekend. The facility was closed in the weekends, so I could have Lola with me at a nearby hotel, where pets were allowed, for two days.
Because my Lola had CKD too, the facility had to be extremely careful with the daily sedation, and a weekly blood work was included in the treatment.

Four weeks later Lola was discharged. She was exhausted, had lost some weight and the hair on her nose started to fall due to the burnings from the radiation, leaving her face bare and sore. I had to bathe her several times a day with black tea.
They told me that the hair could have never grown back.

The request from the facility was to have a CT scan done every 3 months post therapy to assess the effectiveness of the therapy. I was told to get ready for a relapse in the following months. But this never happened, and after two years I was told we could stop with the CT scans, my cat had healed perfectly, the only case in the feline literature, they said. She never had further issues, apart from a chronic rhinitis in the affected nostril, for which I would give her daily sessions of aerosol.

The hair on her face grew back, only grey instead of black, as you can see in the avatar. She left me in 2017, aged 17 years.
My suggestion is to have the full treatment done. Who knows? maybe another miracle can be possible

Lola's fight with oral squamous cell carcinoma

 

[silent meowlook]

Clinical response and survival time of cats with carcinoma of the nasal cavity treated with palliative coarse fractionated radiotherapy - PubMed

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jvim.16098

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1098612X19893445?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.3

 

[Antonio65]

Clinical response and survival time of cats with carcinoma of the nasal cavity treated with palliative coarse fractionated radiotherapy - PubMed

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jvim.16098

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1098612X19893445?icid=int.sj-full-text.similar-articles.3

By reading these reports and articles, I think that my Lola was truly lucky, because she was able to complete the protocol, 16 fractions of 8 Gy each, for a total of 48 Gy, and she survived much longer than the median survival time mentioned in the articles.
These articles match what the oncologist told me before starting the therapy, she said "you will buy only 10 to 12 months of life for your cat".
My sweet Lola left me 5 years and 3 months after the end of the radiotherapy.

 

[silent meowlook]

Cats don’t read the literature. They make their own rules. Plus I am sure the care you gave her also made a huge difference.