Abstract:
Critical appraisal of the available literature for the treatment of canine oral malignant
melanoma (OMM) is lacking. This critical review aimed to evaluate the current literature and provide
treatment recommendations and possible suggestions for future canineOMMresearch. PubMed,Web
of Science and Google Scholar were searched in June 2021, for terms relevant to treatment of OMM.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied and information on clinical response and outcome
extracted. Eighty-one studies were included. The overall level of evidence supporting the various
canine OMM treatment options was low. The majority of studies included confounding treatment
modalities and lacked randomization, control groups and consistency in reporting clinical response
and outcomes. Within these limitations, surgery remains the mainstay of therapy. Adjunctive
radiotherapy provided good local control and improved median survival times (MST), chemotherapy
did not offer survival benefit beyond that of surgery, while electrochemotherapy may offer a potential
alternative to radiotherapy. Immunotherapy holds the most promise in extending MST in the
surgical adjunctive setting, in particular the combination of gene therapy and autologous vaccination.
Prospective, randomized, double-blinded clinical trials, with a lack of confounding factors and
reporting based on established guidelines would allow comparison and recommendations for the
treatment of canine OMM.
