Survival outcomes in dogs treated with vinorelbine-based adjuvant treatment following surgical resection of grade II and III pulmonary carcinoma.

Vinorelbine-based adjuvant chemotherapy appears associated with significantly improved survival following surgical resection of grade II–III canine pulmonary carcinoma.

This retrospective multicentre study evaluated survival outcomes in 56 dogs with histologically confirmed grade II and III pulmonary carcinoma treated with either vinorelbine-based adjuvant chemotherapy following surgical resection (n=36) or surgical resection alone (n=20). Treatment allocation was based on owner decision after oncologist consultation. Dogs receiving vinorelbine-based adjuvant treatment (administered as monotherapy or in combination protocols) demonstrated significantly longer median progression-free survival (232 days vs. 124 days; HR 0.39, 95% CI 0.21–0.70, P=0.003) and overall survival (316 days vs. 124 days; HR 0.31, 95% CI 0.17–0.58, P<0.001) compared to surgery-alone controls. Cox proportional hazards analysis identified vinorelbine-based treatment and tumour grade as independent predictors of both progression-free survival and overall survival (P<0.001). These results suggest a clinically meaningful survival benefit associated with adjuvant vinorelbine-based chemotherapy in this population. However, several important limitations temper interpretation: the retrospective non-randomised design introduces selection bias, owner-driven treatment allocation may confound outcomes, and heterogeneity in chemotherapy protocols prevents definitive efficacy conclusions for any single regimen. Despite these constraints, this study provides preliminary clinical evidence supporting the consideration of vinorelbine-based adjuvant therapy in dogs with intermediate-to-high-grade pulmonary carcinoma after surgical resection, and underscores the need for prospective controlled trials to validate these findings.

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