Systemic taxotere chemotherapy for metastatic tumor pleurisy in cats with spontaneous breast cancer.

Systemic and intrapleural chemotherapy for metastatic tumor pleurisy was carried out in cats with breast carcinoma. The animals (n=18) were divided into 2 groups. Cats of the systemic chemotherapy group received 3-6 courses of taxotere (30 mg/m(2); n=7) or 3 courses of taxotere (20 mg/m(2)) in combination with doxorubicin (20 mg/m(2)at 21-day intervals (n=5) during the adjuvant period of therapy for metastatic tumor pleurisy. Objective effect was attained in 10 (84.6%) cats: partial remission in 3 (25%) and complete remission in 7 (58.3%, p>0.05) cats. Metastatic pleurisy progressed in 2 (16.7%) cats. The median time to progression reached 1.79 months, median lifespan 2.8 months. The animals of intrapleural chemotherapy group (n=6) received 1-4 courses of cyclophosphamide (250 mg/m(2)) at 1-week interval during the adjuvant period without therapy for malignant pleurisy. Malignant pleurisy progressed in all cats. The median time to progression was equal to median lifespan (0.6 months). The therapy for malignant pleurisy in cats with breast cancer is regarded as the second-line chemotherapy with taxotere preferable as a monotherapy or in combination with doxorubicin.