My middle Bernese Treacle has just had a growth removed from her front paw, over the knuckle, and the results back today have confirmed a Grade two Mast cell tumor with dirty margins (not all cells removed). A second lump has now been found (By me) along the line of her shoulder, possible a injection site lump, from the op when given pain relief, she was lying on her side and instead of injecting into her scruff it was possibly a little lower and has left the lump. Even though I was watching the op I cannot be sure of the exact site nor can the vet!! Don't really take much notice as its not usually a problem , but now of course we would have liked to have been more observant?  Vet has given anti-inflammatories to try to reduce it, along with antibiotics as the wound is a little sore due to the fact that having had a two inch strip of skin removed there is not much left to pull together to close the wound, and go back in two days to see if any smaller.
She is not a very good candidate for radiotherapy as the site of the tumor is on her paw and there is a high risk of the skin breaking down and her needing some skin grafts to heal it. Also they will be unable to 'cone down' onto the site due to its position. this means they will have to treat the whole paw and suffer possible burns..hence the need for skin grafting.
We would like to think we are doing the best we possibly can for Treac' but has anyone had this treatment? what was the outcome? is it worth putting her through it for a small improvement in the recurrence factor? they are saying 70% chance or recurrence without treatment and 50/55% with. We are just waiting to get news back from the Oncology experts as to how to get her cancer staged in order to see if it has already spread, we may have to rethink it all again if so.
She is in no pain and is as bright as a button, eating well and thinks she can still do a two hour hike even with a sore paw (Op was only 7 days ago??)
I would be grateful for anyone's input on this...it's a hard decision to make.
Aileen.

aileen where I have had a mast cell tumor on my dog, we were lucky and got clean margins so no further treatment was needed (well for the moment anyway, but if you join the yahoo group canine cancer (go to www.groups.yahoo.com and search for the caninecancer group) there are people there who should be able to answer your questions better than I can who have experience of this.  Personally if there is a chance of cure or long remission, I would treat the cancer agressively, but this is a very personal choice and is not for everyone ,you have to do what you are most comfortable doing, you know your own dog best, the alternative is to treat with the steroid predsolone (sp)  I did lose a dog to mast cell a few years ago, it was not diagnosed correctly until it had taken hold of her whole body almost, we did get a long good quality life on preds before we lost her.

Aileen, my oldest dog has had two mast cell tumours removed over the years. Luckily there was a good margin around them both times. She will be coming up 13 years old in October and her first was taken off when she was about 8-9 years old. I didn't know there was a canine cancer group, just shows you how much we can learn from this site.

Last I heard from a fairly recent study by the AHT, dogs don't do so bad with MCT as what had been historically believed. 

My 11 yr old GSD had a MCT removed from her lower right neck, just underneath the jaw and beside the jugular vein, a year ago last July.  It came back as a grade 2/3, poorly differentiated, no margins at all as the vet could not get any more out due to it being so close to the jugular.

The wound healed up beautifully, no secondary breakdown which I thought was a bit strange with an aggressive tumour bed in there and a grade 3 is as bad as they get.

Anyhow I had the sample retested using an AGnor stain which many believe, (although far from perfect as all the tests are) is the best of a bad bunch.  Anyhow it came back as 2.2, suggestive of low metastasis potential.  Anything over 3.3 I understand can be suggestive of metastasic disease.   

Sheb's also had a FNA of the draining nymph node which came back clear. 

But that was it; we did no further tests or treatment.  We knew in our hearts enough was enough for her. 

Anyhow I year later, the MCT has not grown back nor has any others appeared.  And Sheb's is still as large as life.  We are blessed!!!

My oncologist said that 40% don't grow back after surgical removal without further treatment.   But it's a gamble, you must do what you feel is right in your heart. 

 

Hi...

My 12 year old staffie has has 6 of these removed, the last about 6 months ago.........they were all stage two, however the last one had dirty margins, but there has been no regrowth at the site, or in fact at any of the sites....she has one removed from the top of her paw 2 years ago...with no problems.....

I would not personally go for any further treatment for mast cell at her age.  Besides which you would never know she had mast cell...she runs about like a thing gone mad :)

She does have another tumour however, that now due to her age we have decided not to have removed, unless it become broken or ulcerated in anyway......it does not seem to bother her at all at the moment...

Hope all goes ok with you doglet...((xx))

Thanks for all your replies .
After a lot of soul searching last night we have decided to leave well alone and hope for the best. Treacle is fit and active with no other signs of tumors. To put her through radioligy at this stage seems unfair to her. Maybe if the staging comes back and shows more tumors then we will rethink things but untill then we have decided to let her live life to the full.
The wound on her paw is improving well and no breakdown of surrounding tissue. We feel she has so much life to live that to put her through (worse case senario) six months of hobbling and pain would not be right for her. She has enjoyed a nice controled lead walk this morning with no sign of pain...
We love the breed to bits and have lost two already to cancers, Jodie at ten and a half, to bone cancer and Sheenie at nine to cancer of the spleen but in both these cases we felt the gilrs had done well as the average lifespan for a Bernie is about eight/nine years. They had much more agressive forms and they were not detected untill the internal organs were affected...too late to do anything but pain control. I suppose we were spared the need to make this kind of dissision then.
Thanks again for your input, it's nice to know we are not alone!
Aileen.

Hi Aileen, my thoughts are with you and Treacle, hoping everything turns out well.
As you may know my Bernese was PTS back in May at the age of 8 years old and now my bernese girl is going through the mill with pyo and now a high blood pressure, but my love and I am sure your love for the breed helps to know that they are a fantastic breed to be owned by and we care, love and cherish every moment with this fantastic breed. (nothing beats a Bernese) in my own opinion!

Hope that all goes well with Treacle.  A friend of mine in Spanish had Bernese previous to the breed that she has now and they were quite heartbreaking.

Thinking of you and give Treacle a big hug from me!