Often times they are benign, and do not cause the horse too much trouble so we can just keep an eye on them. These are treated with similar methods as sarcoids, with the exception that we do not wait and see what a squamous cell lump does! Most veterinarians will treat these with combination therapy such as surgical removal and injection with a chemotherapeutic to help prevent recurrence.įinally, melanomas are those big bumps we often see on the tails or around the throat latch of grey horses. These lumps will often first appear as just a slightly ulcerated area and some owners mistake the sites for fly bites or scratches at first. Squamous cell carcinoma is seen more often in warm, sunny areas and often shows up on non‐ pigmented skin like pink third eyelids, or white eyelids or sheaths. Sarcoids have a bad habit of recurring and can come back bigger and stronger than before they were disturbed – which is why we will often “wait and see” with these particular lumps. Some veterinarians prefer to use combination therapy on sarcoids and apply multiple treatments at once to a single lump. Depending on where it is on the body and what it looks like, a sarcoid can be treated with a “wait and see” approach, surgical removal, cryotherapy (where we freeze the sarcoid tissue to death), or injections of either an immune stimulating substance or a chemotherapeutic drug. They can have a varied appearance and will show up as anything from a hairless area of skin to a big multi‐lobed ulcerated mass. Sarcoids are probably the most common lump that appears on a horse. Unfortunately, no method has a 100% success rate. There are as many different ways to treat each of these conditions as there are horses in Kentucky and each method has a different success rate. Melanomas are most commonly seen in grey horses. The three most common types of lumps/bumps a horse will get are sarcoids, squamous cell carcinoma or melanomas. Finally, for certain lumps in certain locations, the whole bump can be removed and then analyzed for what type of tissue it is, and if any tissue was left behind. There are many ways to biopsy a lump from sticking a needle into the mass and aspirating cells, or cutting a piece of tissue from the side of the bump. The second is to biopsy the lump to diagnose what it is and decide on the best course of treatment based on the type of tissue you find. For a small bump in an area where it is not bothering the horse, you can often just watch and make sure it does not start to increase in size or irritate the horse. Certain things about the appearance, location or behavior of a lump or a bump can give your veterinarian clues towards a possible diagnosis and the best treatment, but until you actually submit the tissue for analysis, they are unable say for sure!ĭepending on the location, appearance or behavior of your horse’s lump or bump your veterinarian could follow a few different courses of action. A bump could be an abscess, a benign growth or a more serious tumor. Does your horse have a lump or a bump? In veterinary school, students are taught the phrase “A lump is a lump and a bump is a bump, until you biopsy it!” All this means is that you cannot tell what a bump is just by looking at it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |