Combined dorsolateral and intraoral approach for the resection of tumors of the maxilla in the dog

This paper describes in detail a combined dorsal and intraoral approach for maxillectomy for tumors involving tissues more caudal to the third premolar. The only intraoperative complication was that of blood loss, with six out of 20 dogs requiring a single unit of blood. Histopathologically clean margins were obtained in 14 of the 20 cases, with a recurrence rate of 50% in these dogs and a median time to recurrence of 24 months. This represents an improvement in outcome over previously reported studies, and the authors postulate this is due to the better exposure and access to the area afforded by the combined approach over the standard intraoral approach.