Survival time and prognostic factors in dogs clinically diagnosed with haemangiosarcoma in UK first opinion practice

Taylor, Collette; Barry, Georgina J.; O’Neill, Dan G.; Guillén, Alexandra; Price, Phoebe Pickard; Labadie, Julia; Brodbelt, Dave C.

Abstract

Visceral haemangiosarcoma is considered clinically aggressive in dogs, with perceived
poor prognosis often leading to euthanasia at presentation. This study aimed
to determine survival times and prognostic factors in dogs with haemangiosarcoma
under first-opinion care. Dogs clinically diagnosed with haemangiosarcoma
in first-opinion practice in 2019 were identified in VetCompass electronic health
records and examined to capture variables potentially associated with survival.
Median survival time (MST) from diagnosis was calculated for the whole population,
those histopathologically confirmed and based on primary tumour location. Binary
logistic regression was used to explore differences between dogs that died on the
day of diagnosis and those that survived ≥1 day. Cox proportional hazards modelling
explored factors associated with time to death in dogs surviving ≥1 day. Across
all cases (n = 788), overall MST was 9.0 days (95%CI:5.0–15.0, range: 0–1789)
and proportional 1-year survival was 12.0% (95%CI:9.7–15.0%). Dogs with splenic
(MST = 4.0 days, 95%CI 0.0–9.0) and cutaneous haemangiosarcoma (MST = 119.0
days,95%CI:85.0–248.0) had MST greater than 0 days. Of dogs with a histopathological
diagnosis of haemangiosarcoma, overall MST was longer at 105 days (95% CI
84–133 days) and additionally, location-specific MST were longer. For both clinically
diagnosed cases and histopathologically confirmed cases, increasing tumour size
was associated with increased hazard of death while cutaneous location and surgery
were associated with reduced hazard of death. A very short survival time was
identified for haemangiosarcoma under first-opinion care. Although survival time
was longest for cutaneous cases, the actualised prognosis was poor overall for
haemangiosarcoma. However, a common prevailing view of extremely poor prognosis
for haemangiosarcoma could be promoting frequent euthanasia at presentation
and therefore leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy and low survival times. Further
PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316066 June 6, 2025 2 / 20
exploration of the potential effect of perceived prognosis is warranted. This study provides valuable information for contextualised care and dialogues with clients in first-opinion practice.

Citation

Taylor, C., Barry, G. J., O’Neill, D. G., Guillén, A., Price, P. P., Labadie, J., & Brodbelt, D. C. (2025). Survival time and prognostic factors in dogs clinically diagnosed with haemangiosarcoma in UK first opinion practice. PLoS ONE, 20(6), e0316066. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316066

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 5, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Jun 4, 2025
• Publication Date: Jun 4, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jun 12, 2025
• Journal: PLOS ONE
• Electronic ISSN: 1932-6203
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 6
• Pages: e0316066
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316066
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316066