He is the co-author of “Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound.” Zeltzman is a mobile, board-certified surgeon in Allentown, Pa. In the case of Max*, Jake* and Praline*, three extremely dedicated owners were rewarded with an excellent diagnosis, an outstanding prognosis, and hopefully many more happy years with their dogs.ĭr. Some clients hate this answer, but I would rather say that than give a client unnecessarily poor odds or false hopes. I simply say, "I don't have microscopic vision," and that I just don't know. Over the years, I have become much more cautious when a pet owner asks me whether I think a tumor is benign or malignant. by preventing a hemoabdomen secondary to rupture of a splenic mass). being able to urinate or defecate or breathe), increase life span, and decrease future risks (e.g. The goals of tumor removal are to obtain a diagnosis, improve the patient's quality of life (e. In fact, out of countless patients who did have cancer, I don't remember a pet owner ever regretting choosing surgery over euthanasia, no matter how much extra time we bought. But these loving owners, willing to provide the best possible care for their pet, were not going to give up without a fight. They all were statistically "supposed" to have cancer. But here are three older dogs, some would say in the last part of their lives. In fact, it was supposed to be, based on experience and statistics. I am perfectly aware that the diagnosis could just as easily be bad. Again, this mass will not affect the patient's life span, and Praline got to keep her tail. ![]() One week later, results came back: the mass was benign! It was a cyst in a sweat gland. Upon section postoperatively, the mass appeared dark, so I was concerned it could be a malignant melanoma. For some reason, call it a gut feeling, I wasn't too thrilled to do that, and of course neither was the owner. She was referred for a tail amputation, because the mass was thought to be cancer. Praline, a 9-year-old Labrador, had a pretty big mass under the tail. Jake should have a normal life expectancy and a normal quality of life. One week later, the biopsy came back as … benign! The mass was a leiomyoma. We took Jake to surgery a few days later and removed about one third of his bladder. Linda, the owner, elected to have the mass excised anyway. Bladder masses are much more often cancerous than benign. Ultrasound showed a large mass in his bladder. Jake is a 12-year-old male cocker who had difficulty urinating. Max is now expected to have a normal quality of life and a normal life expectancy. One week later, the biopsy came back as … benign! The mass was a myelolipoma. ![]() vet code for "Man, this oughta be cancer." Max recovered uneventfully. The mass was the size of a cantaloupe (in a Sheltie!), and looked really ugly–i.e. Taking an ultrasound-guided biopsy of the spleen is possible, but it can be risky the mass can rupture and the biopsy can cause "seeding."ĭespite the odds, John, Max's owner, was interested in surgery, which was performed the next day. Based on the way it looked on ultrasound, we believed the mass to be malignant. But their owners just loved their pet too much and couldn't put them to sleep without at least the benefit of surgery. We recently did surgery on three patients all the names used here have been changed. These masses might have been benign, but they still caused some significant signs that dramatically affected the pet's quality of life. Benign intestinal mass in a 9-year-old Golden (jejunal leiomyoma).
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