Advantages of the co₂ laser use in the rare condition of nasal mucosa squamous cell carcinoma surgery in dogs—a clinical prospective study

Nasal mucosa tumors are an uncommon process and very dificult to work on with surgery. Radiotherapy associated or not with chemotherapy is the standard method to treat the disease. However, its access it is in the majority of the case not possible, making the surgery the best choice to try to achieve the patient's control. The anatomy of the region makes the complete surgical resection very difficult to achieve using the common and conventional blade scalpel surgery. The study features the advantages of using a CO₂ laser to perform nasal mucosa carcinoma surgery in 6 dogs (N = 6). For the work we used an Aesculigth CO₂ surgical laser model -Vetscalpel®, with the settings of 12Watts in a Superpulse mode, and a 0.25–0.4 mm focus to dissect the nasal mucosa, and a 1.5 mm focus for vaporization of the area. All the masses were histopathologically characterized as squamous cells carcinoma. The CO₂ surgical laser allow us to work in a bloodless region promoting a more accurate dissection of the nasal mucosa sparing therefore the underlying and adjacent tissues and being less invasive. Also, it was possible to do the vaporization of the entire surgical area interviened. None of the patients presented relapse of clinical signs. Only 2 individuals were alive at the end of the study, presenting a survival rate of 420 and 514 days, which is in the same line of literature results of the treatment with radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy wich shows a median of 474–580 days. The study demonstrates successful outcomes with CO₂ laser surgery in treating nasal mucosa SCC in dogs, with patients experiencing improved survival rates compared to traditional treatment methods. This highlights the efficacy and potential of CO₂ laser surgery as a valuable tool in managing aggressive nasal tumors in veterinary oncology.