Caninecancer.org.au

I'm looking for some input regarding an 11-12 year old golden retriever (Amber) who was diagnosed with malignant melanoma on her chest which was resected leaving what were thought to be clean margins in June. I adopted her in August knowing the cancer could return at any time. She now has regrowth on the incision site and also an enlarged node behind the primary site. Last week she had blood work and a chest x-ray done which were negative. She does not show any other signs of illness.

Now we are deciding whether to do surgery and remove the tumor and the node. The vet and I are ambivalent and want to prevent the cancer from spreading any further but also are aware that it may have metastasized microscopically already and we don't want to rob her of this time when she's feeling good and enjoying life so much!

Has anybody gone through something similar? I'd look forward to your input. Amber is like a bright ray of sunshine every day and my family and I want to do what's best for her!

Thank you!!

Hi Lee,
that was a wonderful thing to offer Amber a home despite the melanoma diagnosis and I'm glad she's settled in well. If the near by lymph node is metastatic, then it is almost certain that it will be elsewhere. It would not be wise to look at removal of the recurrence and node as preventing spread - the benefit will be in delaying the time for either site to be a problem for her, or for improving the success of treatments controlling the tumour elsewhere in the body. Vaccines, carboplatin and metronomic therapies are appropriate for some dogs. You did the right thing getting xrays done, but note that they will pick up metastatic disease at around 7mm in diameter - this is many many millions of cancer cells.
If the lymph node is not confirmed to be melanoma, then this should be your first step. A needle aspirate is quick, simple and relatively painless for a node and is reasonably reliable for detecting this cancer.
I hope this helps and that things go well for Amber!

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Dr Ken Wyatt BSc BVMS FANZCVS
Specialist Veterinary Oncologist
Perth Veterinary Oncology

Dr. Ken,

Thank you so much for your input. I will talk to my veterinarian about either doing a needle aspiration of the node or getting a referral to an oncologist who can help with it. That would be a pretty non-invasive step to getting the data needed to develop a good plan of care for Amber! Metronomic chemo is new to me and I looked into after your post. It's really interesting!

I've also been researching some holistic interventions such as myco-immune and circumin which seem to have minimal side effects and are beneficial for some animals. There is not a lot of published data so I haven't started any of them. Do you have any experience with any of the herbs that support the immune system? I have human patients (I'm an Onc RN)who really feel that the mushrooms, in particular, have been a key player in slowing down their metastasis.


Thank you again for taking the time to respond to my questions! I really appreciate your input and am especially glad to be able to put the question of surgery aside!!

Lee

The immune aspects of mushrooms are exciting. There is one paper for haemangiosarcoma in dogs; unfortunately the study wasn't strong and the results weren't remarkable, but it is a start. I am for anything that is helpful and safe - unfortunately for most herbs and 'alternative' products both these boxes aren't ticked yet. hopefully with time, the scientific method will see through and pets (and people) will benefit.

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Dr Ken Wyatt BSc BVMS FANZCVS
Specialist Veterinary Oncologist
Perth Veterinary Oncology

Thank you! Much appreciated!