Aerosol gemcitabine: preclinical safety and in vivo antitumor activity in osteosarcoma-bearing dogs.

Background: Osteosarcoma is the most common skeletal malignancy in the dog and in young humans. Although chemotherapy improves survival time, death continues to be attributed to metastases. Aerosol delivery can provide a strategy with which to improve the lung drug delivery while reducing systemic toxicity.