Caninecancer.org.au

Just wondering if there is any advantage for dogs to have radiation instead of chemotherapy. Does one offer a better chance for your dog to have a long happy life than the other?
Thankyou for your time.

The comparison is difficult to generalise, meaning it would be best answered for a specific patient with a specific problem. I'll assume your question relates to external beam radiation (i.e. the radiation is not injected into the patient). The first thing I think is important is that radiation is almost always treating a specific site in the body, much like surgery. Its most common use is to reach areas that surgery can't. Chemotherapy however is most commonly used to treat the whole body for cancers that are at multiple locations.
To answer your question as best I can, and accepting that I am generalising more than I feel comfortable doing, if a dog needs more help to eradicate a tumour than surgery can provide, then radiation is often a good choice to destroy cancer at the surgery site for cancers that radiation is proven effective. When the cancer is likely elsewhere in the body and it is of a type that has proven benefit from chemotherapy, then medication is a good choice.
Many patients benefit from BOTH treatments being used. Your veterinary oncologist will be happy to discuss the pros and cons with you, I'm sure.

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Dr Ken Wyatt BSc BVMS FANZCVS
Specialist Veterinary Oncologist
Perth Veterinary Oncology

Thanks most appreciated.