Medical management of soft tissue sarcoma in a male Labrador retriever

摘要

Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) refer to a class of malignant growth in the mesenchymal tissues, observed most frequently in subcutaneous structures and the extremities. Metastasis may occur in nearly 20% STS cases. Treatment options are surgery, radiationtherapy and chemotherapy, or a judicious combination of these remedial strategies. In the client-owned 10 year old male Labrador retriever dog, named Bonzo, a large tennis ball sized mass in the palmaro-medial aspect of the right antebrachium was observed on presentation in the clinic. Blood chemistry profile ruled out hepatic and renal dysfunction. After adequate preparation, the neoplastic mass was surgically excised, completely. The histopathological profile, characterized by clearly discernible infiltrative neoplastic proliferation of spindle shaped cells arranged in interwoven streams and bundles supported on a fibrovascular/ fibromyxomatous matrix, seven mitotic figures/ 10 dry high power (400x) fields, and anisocytosis and anisokaryosis of moderate intensity was interpreted as STS, Grade 2. Post-surgery weekly follow-up visits at the clinic showed that the dog patient was recovering well with no clinical signs of tumor recurrence. However, for added biosafety the case was referred to the veterinary clinical oncologist for post-surgery radiation therapy.