Objective: Ovarian cysts have great clinical relevance in bitches. Currently, ovariohysterectomy is regarded as the gold standard, but there is a paucity of information on the aetiology and hormonal treatment in this species. Standardised protocols for non-surgical treatment are, however, virtually non-existent. Reports on the success of hormonal therapy are rare and generally restricted to individual case reports. The objective of the present study was to determine the success rate of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) or the gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue buserelin in a larger cohort of bitches.
Material and methods: A total of 30 bitches with ovarian cysts were treated with a maximum of three attempts per individual, utilising different protocols of the hCG and/or buserelin treatment.
Results: Hormonal therapy was successful in 63% of the treated cases. There was no significant difference between the success rates of the hCG- and buserelin-based protocols. The first treatment attempted had a success rate of 40%, with 33% and 67% for the second and third treatments, respectively. The success of conservative therapy failed in the first treatment attempt in two cases, after the second in seven cases, and after the third attempt in one bitch. In these 10 cases, an ovariohysterectomy was performed.
Conclusion and clinical relevance: The hormonal therapy of ovarian cysts in bitches provides an acceptable alternative to the current gold standard of ovariohysterectomy, especially to avoid negative side-effects of spaying. However, conservative therapy requires a pre-interventional health check to exclude uteropathies and oestrogen-induced changes in the haemogram or blood chemistry. Compared to the surgical treatment, there is the chance of recrudescence.