AKC Canine Health Foundation - 40

Enhanced Surgical Margin Imaging in Dogs with Soft
Tissue Sarcoma or Mammary Tumors
Laura Selmic, BVetMed (Hons), MPH, DACVS-SA, DECVS
The Ohio State University
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Selmic graduated with a Bachelor's in Veterinary Medicine
from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London in 2004.
She completed a residency in small animal surgery at Texas A &
M University in 2010. In 2011, she completed a clinical
fellowship in oncologic surgery at the Flint Animal Cancer
Center, Colorado State University. In 2012, she was recognized
as a board-certified specialist of small animal surgery and a
founding fellow of surgical oncology. She spent 2 years as a
research scientist at Colorado State University and completed a Master of Public Health degree
with focus in Applied Biostatistics in 2013. She was an assistant professor at University of
Illinois in Soft and Oncologic Surgery for 5 years. She is currently an associate professor at the
Ohio State University. Dr. Selmic was recognized as an ACVS Founding Fellow of Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery in 2020. She was awarded the Teckie and Don Shackelford Chair of
Canine Medicine in 2021. Dr. Selmic's research interests include imaging to enhance surgical
planning and assessment of surgical margins, cancer epidemiology, clinical trial and study
design.
PRESENATATION ABSTRACT
Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) comprise 15% of all canine skin tumors, while mammary tumors are
the most common tumor occurring in intact bitches. Surgical removal is the treatment of choice,
with complete tumor removal offering the best prognosis. Post-operative histopathology
evaluates tumor excision, but takes several days and only assesses <1% of the surgical
margins. Reliable intraoperative techniques are critically needed. Optical coherence tomography
(OCT) uses light waves to generate real-time, high-resolution images of tissue at a microscopic
level. We trained clinicians to identify cancer at surgical margins with OCT in canine STS and
mammary tumors. The clinicians experienced some challenges in differentiating tissues with a
similar appearance on OCT (muscle and sarcoma; mammary tissue and mammary tumor).
Polarization-sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) is a new type of OCT that assesses how the polarization
of light changes through tissues due to tissue organization. Cancerous tissue has poor
organization compared to normal tissues, so areas of residual cancer should be easily detected
with PS-OCT.
The study we have been working on was designed to assess the use of PS-OCT for surgical
margin imaging in 80 dogs following STS or mammary tumor resection. We have found good
correlation between PS-OCT images and histopathology, and I will present our evaluation of the
accuracy of observer interpretation of PS-OCT images for identification of incomplete tumor
excision compared to conventional OCT in canine soft tissue sarcoma. This research support
has been pivotal to working to improve surgical margin imaging accuracy for translation into the
clinic to facilitate real-time decisions to reduce local recurrence, morbidity, and mortality in dogs.
2023 National Parent Club Canine Health Conference
Presented by the AKC Canine Health Foundation and Nestlé Purina PetCare

AKC Canine Health Foundation

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