Any experience with spindle cell turmors, please? (keep, puncture, injections)

[Daphs mom]

Hello,
my girl Daphne- 6 yo Doberman with color dilute alopecia and ulcers at times(she is void of color so high risk for skin cancer.
she had pea size nodule on her back- red, raised bled at times, but popped up quickly. along with some other stuff it was an after thought to remove this also. Vet today says it is grade 3 SPINDLE CELL CANCER. Was told oncologist recommends chemo, without it, life expectation maybe a year. I have read on other sites- spindle cell not affected by chemo, and other sites that these remain localized and not aggressive. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. She is my life and so far behaves healthy and great appetite-this was so shocking, but fear unnecessary debilitating chemo- is chemo for this rough on pets?
thank you,

[RnSLabs]

Originally Posted by Daphs mom

Hello,
my girl Daphne- 6 yo Doberman with color dilute alopecia and ulcers at times(she is void of color so high risk for skin cancer.
she had pea size nodule on her back- red, raised bled at times, but popped up quickly. along with some other stuff it was an after thought to remove this also. Vet today says it is grade 3 SPINDLE CELL CANCER. Was told oncologist recommends chemo, without it, life expectation maybe a year. I have read on other sites- spindle cell not affected by chemo, and other sites that these remain localized and not aggressive. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. She is my life and so far behaves healthy and great appetite-this was so shocking, but fear unnecessary debilitating chemo- is chemo for this rough on pets?
thank you,

Hi,


In all my research chemo is not effective with spindle cell tumors. My lab had a grapefruit size tumor on her chest that was spindle cell (histology). I decided to debulk the tumor and must say the recovery was tough on my girl. She was 13 years old when she had the surgery. I consulted with various vets and all said that spindle cell would recur in a few months as it is very difficult to remove these types of tumors. My research also confirmed this as well. My dog lived another 2.5 years after the debulk procedure. The tumor was growing back but at very slow rate. Old age got the best of my lab at 16 years old (just could not walk anymore and tore her ACL on the day we decided to say good-bye).


My opinion only - If you have removed the spindle cell tumor I would let your dog be and monitor the area for regrowth. Chemo is not effective against these types of cancers. Radiation can be harsh on animals and in this case unnecessary as well.


Research on the web. Not blogs but research published journal articles related to spindle cell tumors. You will find much information that can of great value in helping with your decision. In every case I researched I have found all to be true which led me to making the decision on how to treat my dog.


Best regards

[FB9202]

I wanted to share the treatment we opted to use for a spindle cell tumor our 9 yr old boxer developed on the back side of his left rear leg.

The tumor popped up rather quickly (Dec 2017) and the biopsy showed it to be a spindle cell tumor. Due to the location, our vet said he would not be able to get clean margins if he removed it.

He ended up referring us to a specialty veterinary hospital.

They removed the tumor (without clean margins) and then placed tiny chemo (Cisplatin) beads at the site.

Recovering from the surgery took a while, but our dog did not have any side effects from the chemo bead treatment. It has been 14 month since the surgery with no recurrence of the tumor.

Hope this information helps if you are looking for treatment options for your beloved pet.

[lluther]

my dog was just diagnosed with a spindle cell tumor. Is this definitely cancer? Because they want to do a biopsy now and I wondered if that will determine if it is cancer or not..

He is 9 and we were told last year it was a fatty tissue after an aspiration but after it growing this year they took another aspiration and said it had abnormal cells and came back from the lab as a spindle cell tumor

[dkaysnyder]

I have just finished reading all of the posts from the thread about spindle cell sarcomas. The last post was in May of this year and I was just wondering if the thread is still active? I have a 13 yr. old female mixed breed dog that has been fighting this kind of tumor for close to 3 yrs. I have found so much info from these posts that I was hoping to continue the blog. Our girl, Missy, had surgery in May of 2017 for what we were told was a lipoma. Unfortunately, it was a soft tissue sarcoma (spindle cell). The tumor was quite large (tennis ball) and because of the location(above her knee on her front leg), they could not get it all. The tumor grew back 4 times as fast and 5 mos. later, we had her leg amputated. We were told there was a good chance for a cure as her lungs were clear and no enlarged lymph nodes. As hard as it was to take her leg, we decided it was her only option for recovery. I won't say that the amputation was easy. She was 11 at the time and we wondered how she would handle it but after the first 2 wks., she started to recover. Unfortunately, 3 mos. after the surgery, she developed another tumor (same kind) on her hind leg). It was also in a bad location for a clean margin, so we started to research other options. We found a dog cancer trial which involved an immunotherapy drug. We were ecstatic as they had a complete cure with a dog that had the same cancer. Unfortunately, we didn't have the same luck. Once again, we were running out of options as the tumor grew. However, once again, we found another cancer trial which involved brachytherapy (a type of radiation). We were accepted into the trial despite the fact that her tumor was larger than the limits. They made an exception and in Jan. she rec'd the treatment. Over the next 4 mos., the tumor was stable but a month or two later, it was growing again. We were offered debulking surgery but due to the large size (11 cm), we decided against it. They could not guarantee that her leg wouldn't be damaged further. She already had a large gaping wound at the bottom of the tumor (damage from the radiation) and due to the size of the tumor, she could possibly be left with a larger wound due to the lack of flesh in that area. So here we are again, out of options and watching the tumor grow. We are doing a home made diet and a lot of supplements but nothing is slowing it down. Will continue searching as she is still a pretty happy girl. Great appetite and goes for daily walks. Doesn't seem to be in pain, although it's hard to know for sure, so she's on Rimadyl and CBD oil. Sorry for the long post. Would love to hear from people with similar stories!

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by dkaysnyder

Our girl, Missy, had surgery in May of 2017 for what we were told was a lipoma.

How do you know?

Did you have a biopsy performed?

All the vet does is stick a needle in and draw out some cells for review under a microscope.

Was your vet so incompetent they couldn't tell the difference between a lipoma and cancer?

Originally Posted by dkaysnyder

The tumor was quite large (tennis ball) and because of the location(above her knee on her front leg), they could not get it all.

I find that hard to believe. My dog's tumor was the size of a soft-ball and in her abdominal-pelvic area by her left rear leg and he got it all. Just as in humans, tumors in dogs send out signals for the body to build blood vessels to feed the tumor. My dog had to have a drainage tube because there were four arterial-sized blood vessels and some smaller venous-type vessels.

Being on your dog's knee, surgery is hardly invasive and not nearly as traumatizing and your vet should have had all the time in the world to get it all.

It only cost me $363 for the x-rays and blood work and $549 for the surgery, which included a 10-day supply of antibiotics. The vet took the drainage tube out on the 8th for no charge, and I brought her back on the 17th to get the staples out, but the vet wanted to wait another week (no charge) and on July 24th she got her staples out (no charge by the vet).

My vet told me the blood work was to determine which anesthesia my dog can tolerate and the x-rays are for malpractice, since it is malpractice to operate on a dog that cannot be saved because the tumor has metastasized or spread.

I sure hope you aren't taking your dog to PetsMart or Noah's Ark.

A boar hog would be more competent than those vets.

This is Asha a few weeks ago on July 3rd about 12 hours after her surgery. The yellow thing is the drainage tube.

[dkaysnyder]

They actually did a fine needle aspiration and told us they didn't see any malignant cells. Said it was probably a benign lipoma and they tend to come back after removed, so they wouldnt remove it unless it got very large.

The vet that did the surgery was not the one that did the aspiration. Actually, I was told by the surgeon that eventually did her amputation that the aspirations are only about 60 % accurate. Wish I had known that before.

There is a lot less tissue in the knee area than on the abdomen and upper leg. Due to the invasive history of these types of sarcomas, it's hard to get all of the tumor in some areas, our dogs's had already infiltrated the muscle.

I have also heard other people dealing with this kind of cancer say that the initial aspiration was inaccurate.

[HB93]

Hi, our 15 year old dog has been diagnosed with a spindle cell tumour and we’re looking at our options as we’re not sure about surgery at his age - please could someone let me know about the supplements that shrink or stop growth? Thank you in advance

[dkaysnyder]

HB93

You might want to check out radiation therapy. If the tumor's not too large, it can extend life. If you have access to stereotactic radiation, they use less treatments to get results.

[Adrianfischer103]

Thank you all for sharing your experience with your dogs and spindle cell cancer. I just found out yesterday that my dog has this she is only 6 years old I was surprised it was cancer, it's right on her foot (dog pinky toe) so we might need to amputate. It was suggested to talk to a surgical vet on monday when it's open. After reading this it seems like there are varying timeframes of life left and I guess we just dont know enough yet. Having a really hard time coping, I'm single and just moved across the country with her for a job promotion and shes my best friend.