Print

Treatment

Even if the mass in the heart is extensive, or has begun to spread through the body, surgical resection is still the recommended treatment of choice for most heart tumors. This holds even if the surgery will not cure the condition, but if the tumor is benign, surgical resection may be curative. Chemotherapy can be administered in the case of malignant heart tumors, but unfortunately, in many cases patients will die in spite of treatment.

Living and Management

Your veterinarian will schedule follow-up appointments for in order to perform serial heart ultrasounds on your dog. These examinations will help your doctor to follow the progress of your dog’s condition, as well as to check the heart muscle for signs of doxorubicin toxicity — if doxorubicin has been prescribed as part of a chemotherapeutic program. Doxorubicin is an effective drug for treating malignant cancers, but one of the negative side effects is that it can damage heart muscle. Your veterinarian will also take chest x-rays at each visit to make sure the tumor has not spread into any other parts of your dog's body. The final prognosis for most malignant myocardial tumors is guarded to poor.