Lip and Oral Cavity Cancer

    The lip and oral cavity cancer is a disease in which cancerous cells (malignant) are found in the labial or oral tissue. The front two of the third part of the tongue, the upper and lower gums, the interior  covering of the cheeks, the lips  (oral  mucous membrane), the lower part of the mouth, under the tongue and the bone upper part of the mouth (the hard palate) are included in the oral cavity.

    The tumors in the oral cavity are frequent in adult or old animals. Those are manifested with halitosis (smelly breath), ptyalism (excessive salivation), dysphagia (difficulty to swallow), buccal cupping, loss of several teeth, etc. the routine clinical exanimation must include the mouth and the closer organs (salivary glands). Any type of mass which is founded in the buccal cavity must be analyzed even if our pet ha no sign or symptoms. The tumors that are found in the oral cavity are the histological type and of varied evolution.

Palatal: the most frequent malignant tumor situated in this area of old dogs is the squamous cell carcinoma. The clinical signs are anorexia, difficulty to swallow, the increase in size of the jaw's lower ganglion and a lot of pain.

Mouth: Benign neoplasm:  we found several tumors of this type; one of the most frequent is the benign gum tumor or periodontal fibrous hyperplasia (a fibrous tumor on the tooth's gum). The predisposed breeds are the Boxer and the Bull Dog.
Malignant Neoplasm (cancer): the malignant neoplasm's frequency in the mouth is rather high.

The three most frequent tumors of the oral cavity are the fibrosarcoma, the malignant melanoma and the squamous cell carcinoma.
In general, the fibrosarcoma is diagnosed in young dogs; it is also common in big size dogs. Although the metastasis is rare, the tumor is very invasive and it does not respond very well to the treatment.

The malignant melanoma can de pigmented or not, but in both cases they must be consider malignant. It is rare in cats. Its condition is unfavorable. The most frequent breeds that suffer from these tumors are the Cocker Spaniel, the Scottish terrier, the Labrador, the Poodle, the Chow Chow and the Great Dane; these tumors occasionally affect the felines.

The squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is locally very aggressive and it invades frequently the underlying osseous tissue. This type of cancer is frequent in felines as well as in canines. It has no particular preference for any breed.
According to the prognosis, the SCC is the one among the mentioned three that has the faster response depending in its stage and the protocol used treatment. It responds rather positive to radiotherapy.

Treatment of the lip and oral cavity cancer.
There are several treatments for patients with lip and oral cavity cancer.  Nowadays, in veterinary medicine, the treatments that are in used are:

• Surgery (extraction of the cancer)
  The surgery is the most common treatment for the lip and oral cavity cancer. The vet can extract the cancer and part of the healthy tissue situated around the tumor.  Ha can also extract the neck lymph nodes (lymph nodes dissection).
  
  
• The radiotherapy consists in the use of X rays in order to eliminate the cancerous cells and to reduce tumors. The origins of the radiation can be a machine situated outside the body (extern radiotherapy) or the application of some materials that produce radiation (radio isotopes) by thin tubes in the area where the cancerous cells are placed (internal radiotherapy).
  
  
• The chemotherapy consists in the use of medicine that destroys the cancerous cells. This treatment can be given orally or injected in a vein or a muscle.
  The chemotherapy is considered to be a systematic treatment because the medicine is introduced in the blood stream where goes through the body and it can destroy the cancerous cells in all the body.
  
  

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