>From:    "Bruce Williams, DVM" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Ginger's tumor
>
>If you don't mind, I'd like to give an interpretation here.  I don't think
>we are out of the woods quite yet, and extreme vigilance is important.
>
>While it is not a squamous cell carcinoma or a leiomyosarcoma, apocrine
>tumors in this location are occasionally bad news.  Malignant sweat gland
>tumors can be well-differentiated, and these tumors have a nasty propensity
>to metastasize early to internal lymph nodes.  Personally, I'd rather have
>the leiomyosarcoma - a malgnancy of the smooth muscle of either blood
>vessel or urianry tract walls, because they offer the best hope of a
>surgical cure if they are truly malignant.
>
>The fact that the mitotic rate (or the number of cells that are dividing)
>is up to 3 in some fields is of some concern.  I have seen a number of
>similar tumors, and some have been bad actors....
 
Dear Dr. Williams, thanks so much for your input on Ginger's condition.
I forwarded your e-mail to my vet so that he could look it over.  I'm a
little disheartened at the latest prognosis based on your experiences.
She's such a sweet little girl.  From your e-mail it appears you'd like to
look at the tumor.  I gather you mean the lab slide.  If that's the case,
we've already put a call into the lab to get it.  All I need to know is
where to send it to.
 
You mentioned we needed extreme vigilance here to help Ginger the best we
could.  Can you be more specific?  Are you talking daily visual exams for
more tumors or weekly bloodwork (if so, what are we looking specificallt
for?) or possible exploratory to see if the tumor (if malignant)
metastasized to the lymph nodes.
 
The other question I have is why couldn't the lab determine if the tumor
was malignant or benign?  What might have been missing from the sample sent
in that would have given them what they needed to make that determination?
 
Looking forward to your reply and also more information once you've viewed
the slide.
 
Best reagrds,
Kim Schilling
[Posted in FML issue 3299]