"Remington" is a 4-year-old Paint gelding who presented to Dr. Shane with a large wart-like tumor on his face just above his right eye.
The white blaze marks where sensitive pink, non-pigmented skin can become affected by sunlight to produce a very aggressive tumor called a Squamous Cell Carcinoma SCC.
These often appear at first like a less invasive tumor called a Sarcoid. A Sarcoid is caused by the Bovine Papilloma Virus, while the SCC is caused by UV light.
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Both tumors look the same to the observer. A biopsy iscritical to determine which type of tumor is present. The SCC is veryinvasive and can lead to eventual euthanasia if it grows unchecked. The Sarcoid is benign and really only causes local cosmetic defects andis never life threatening. |
"Remy" was put under general anesthesia on a sunny day in the grass and the tumor was cut away, leaving as much skin as possible to close. Three Cisplatin beads were implanted under the skin to prevent recurrance of whatever tumor type we were dealing with. The beads slowly release the chemotherapy agent into the tissues in case the surgery did not remove all the tumor.
After the surgery, "Remy" woke up and immediately wanted to eat! 14 days later the suture's were removed. The biopsy report came back "Sarcoid". This was good news.
To date, no recurrance of the Sarcoid has been noted.