>>Surgery went well.  Everything was a beautiful, healthy looking pink
>>and/or red, as expected.  The stomach and intestines were empty.
>>Suddenly a pyramidal shaped *thing* popped out of the right side of the
>>incision.  It was obviously not natural to the mammalian body.  It looked
>>like those clear superballs that are formed with the tiny clear balls
>>inside.  There was little or no vascularization, looked fluid-filled,
>>if anything.
 
>The *growth* was tentatively attached to the right adrenal and to the
>liver.  He was going to try to remove it, but it was precariously close
>to the vena cava.  As this was his first ferret surgery, he really
>didn't want to be close to it!  The first impression was, is this some
>growth from the diseased right adrenal gland (left was normal) or liver?
>He took biopsies to send off, but could not cleanly remove it so he left
>the remainder.
 
Well, the biopsies are the best way to get a diagnosis, but your
description sounds much like a biliary cystadenocarcinoma - a low grade
malignancy of the liver.  These tumors grow slowly as large bubble like
formations in the liver, which are actually dilated bile ducts.  If they
get really large, they can conceivably cause GI problems by simply
pushing the gut out of the way.
 
These tumors, if not completely removed, will tend to continue to grow
slowly, and may eventually invade other lobes of the liver.  If they get
too far along, they may result in liver failure.  My suggestion is that
if the diagnosis is either this or biliary cysts (many pathologists
misinterpret these as benign), then a re-excision with total lobectomy
should be performed.
 
Another possibility would be an adrenal malignancy - but these are far
less likely to have a bubbly appearance.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3896]