Key Facts

Animal Treated

Dog

Animal Condition

Cancerous lump on leg

Specialist(s) Required

Soft tissue surgery
Diagnostic imaging
Anaesthesia and Analgesia

Lucy

The story of Lucy, a sweet 7 year old Staffordshire bull Terrier with a cancerous lump.

Before visiting the Specialist
Lucy is a 7 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier that had a small lump on one side on her hindquarters. An initial sample at her vets showed it to be a fatty lump, but as time went by it got bigger and harder and her vet recommended a biopsy. The biopsy showed that the lump was a soft tissue sarcoma, which is a cancerous mass and due to the size and location of the lump, Lucy’s vet recommended referral to a Specialist surgeon.

Lucy’s Care
Lucy was seen by a Soft Tissue Surgeon at Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists and it was thought that fairly extensive surgery would be required to remove the whole lump. Before surgery we had to check that the cancerous lump had not spread to other body organs and to make sure that the whole mass could be removed surgically. A CT-scan of her pelvic area, lungs and liver was done by a Specialist in Diagnostic Imaging, whilst Lucy was under general anaesthesia (under the supervision of a Specialist Anaesthetist).
The good news was that Lucy did not have any spread of the cancer and that surgical removal of the entire mass was possible.

Lucy’s Progress
The following day Lucy had her surgery. An epidural injection was given before surgery started to make sure she would be comfortable in recovery and also to reduce the amount of anaesthetic drugs needed during the surgery. The tumour was removed with wide margins of normal tissue to ensure that it could not regrow. The challenge was then to reconstruct this wound, a skin flap had to be created and moved into the area. The image shows the surgical planning before the tumour was removed and then the final reconstruction. Lucy recovered well and the histopathology report confirmed that the tumour had been completely removed.
Lucy recovered well and is happy without her large mass!

Article provided by Davina Anderson
Specialist in Small Animal Surgery (Soft Tissue)
www.andersonmoores.com