The nosebleed also negatively impacts the owner’s lifestyle, as these events can be dramatic, messy, and difficult to manage. I would argue that a bleeding nose is a negative prognostic factor for a dog with a nasal tumor primarily because the nosebleed is perceived as producing a negative impact on the pet’s quality of life. Yet clinically, my observations tell me this is untrue. At first glance, one might assume dogs with nosebleeds have more aggressive tumors, or are sicker from their disease. Dogs with nasal tumors who experience nosebleeds have a significantly shorter survival time than dogs without nosebleeds (88 days vs. Unfortunately, many times prognostic factors fail to provide clinically relevant information. Some owners will therefore base their decision to pursue treatment based solely on the result of the phenotype testing. For dogs being treated with chemotherapy, those who have a B-cell phenotype tend to have a longer lifespan than dogs with a T-cell phenotype. For example, immunophenotype is a prognostic factor for dogs with lymphoma. Much weight is given to the statistical significance of prognostic factors and they largely influence meaningful medical decisions, including those related to life and death. Most studies investigating various cancers in pets include an analysis of specific prognostic factors in some capacity.

Prognostic factors are designed to help owners and veterinary oncologists decide on the need for additional testing, potential treatment options, and also to provide a realistic expectation of outcome. Prognostic factors could help estimate a patient’s survival time, chance of success with a particular treatment plan, or risk for recurrence of disease following surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. They predict the likely course of the cancer, and ultimately, your pet's prognosis, or final outcome. Prognostic factors are characteristics possessed by a patient, its tumor, or both.

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