Labrador Retriever Forum
Anyone had experience with this?
A friend's 4-yr old Lab had small (pea sized) lump in the skin behind one ear. She insisted on having it removed and it came back as spindle cell carcinoma. Explained by her DVM as "random," "not genetic," "not threatening," and unlikely to recur.
I had just never heard of it before and wondered if anyone has had experience.
I have read what's on the web, but would like to know personal experiences.
Thanks.
MWK
Was this a spindle cell squamous carcinoma? Kate
That is all the info I have...squamous cell was never mentioned.
MWK
I'm trying to connect what I know with what the vet said. The only dog I know who had a spindle cell cancer was a spindle cell squamous carcinoma, the most common kind of spindle cell carcinoma; it was highly malignant and aggressive. The dog died of it. By the time the dog was diagnosed, the cancer had metastasized. Kate
This is NOT squamous cell--and everything I have read is that they are usually encapsulated and once removed with margins it normally doesn't recur.
MWK
Did a little reading. Spindle cell refers to the shape of the cell, so they are skin cells that, instead of looking like epithelial cells, resemble connective tissue cells. In humans such tumors are fast growing and likely to metastasize. In dogs there are something called spindle cell lesions, which are benign growths, usually found on older dogs. On a young dog they are more likely to be aggressive. One site also cautioned against misdiagnosis. A second opinion from the pathologist might be in order.
Everthing I have read is that in dogs, spindle cells are connective tissue cells. They sometimes short-circuit and make a lump under the skin, not attached to anything. They are usually encapsulated, slow growing, slow to metastisize (spelling?) unless associated with a lymph node.
MWK
The dog I knew was not an older dog. From what I remember (it was about 5 years ago or more) part of the delay in diagnosis was that the lump was erroneously thought to be more benign than it was. What I remember resembles what Peggy said--the shape of the spindle cells resembling connective tissue when they should be epithelial cells. So I think I would be really
sure that the diagnosis was correct if the dog in question is a younger dog. Maybe not so relevant with an older dog.
And since I posted originally, I remembered that I knew a man who died several years after a spindle cell tumor was found on his penis. Don't know how much relevance this would have but again I would get a second opinion about the dog in question.
Maybe there is a problem of terminology.
Usually a cancer of epithelial cells is called a carcinoma and a cancer of connective tissue is called a sarcoma. So when you say connective tissue and carcinoma I'm having trouble understanding what you mean.
As Peggy said, the term "spindle cell" just describes the appearance of the cell that is dividing in a malignant way. Spindle cells could appear in a carcinoma or a sarcoma. Despite the fact that both carcinoma and sarcoma can have spindle cells, carcinoma and sarcoma may have very different courses and prognosis.
The owner told me what was on the pathologist report.
They also graded it as "0" or "low."
Mwk
Well, that's scary. I'd expect a pathology report to be more carefully stated.
Stage 0 would be noncancerous. But Kate is right- the term carcinoma refers to am epithelial cancer. So it is confusing. It never hurts to ask for a second pathological report. I once had a puppy diagnosed with osteosarcoma from a biopsy taken from an injured place in his jaw. The vet at the emergency clinic (where I no longer go) accepted the diagnosis at face value even though the age of the dog, position of the injury, and the fact that the biopsy was from an injury all argued against the diagnosis. I insisted on a second opinion, which came back as a normal healing tissue. The puppy is still alive at age 14- no osteosarcoma.
