Treating Feline Sarcoids

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Anthony Dennison — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:42:48 GMT

Thank you Malcom for that information, I will pass it on to the vet dealing with the cat currently. The cat is not insured however, so it all depends on costs and whether we could do something like this in-house.

Once again, vetsurgeon.org comes up trumps with help and advice.

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Malcolm Ness — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:36:30 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"][quote user="Gerry Polton"]I've seen feline sarcoidosis. [/quote]Malcolm, we of little faith, we should have known Gerry would be along.[/quote]

Always happy to learn! I am a surgeon not an oncologist (though I do get through a reasonable amount of onco surgery) We also see relatively few cats up here - much less than 10% of my caseload.

Anthony - cats can cope without their nose and there is a lot of skin available for facial reconstruction. However, just because surgery can be done, doesn't mean that it should. I think you are within striking distance of John Williams at NW Surgeons and Rachel at Liverpool Vet School who are both very good soft tissue surgeons who would be happy to advise/help.

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Gerry Polton — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:10:55 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

[quote user="Gerry Polton"]Radiotherapy is less ineffective than radiotherapy[/quote]

Pardon?

[/quote]

Well spotted. Thank you Michael. I meant that radiotherapy was less ineffective than chemotherapy.

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:06:31 GMT

[quote user="Gerry Polton"]Radiotherapy is less ineffective than radiotherapy[/quote]

Pardon?

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Anthony Dennison — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:44:30 GMT

Hmm, surgery to achieve good margins would involve the cat losing it's nose and the majority of the left side of it's face. Don't think that is an option unfortunately (though I stand to be corrected)

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Gerry Polton — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:40:31 GMT

Surgery is the best choice, if it can be done (well). Radiotherapy is less ineffective than radiotherapy. But we are hamstrung by the tumour location, I suspect. So, the short answer is, 'yes, radiotherapy rather than chemo'.

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Anthony Dennison — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:35:41 GMT

[quote user="Gerry Polton"]I've seen feline sarcoidosis. By the time of diagnosis these are relatively aggressive infiltrative tumours that need to be managed in the same way as a sarcoma or squamous cell carcinoma in the same site.[/quote]

Thanks Gerry, Sheena did tell me to ring you but I thought I'd post on here so you could respond in your own time rather than me bothering you!

There is proliferation of the gingiva over the maxillary incisors too, which I presume is part of the disease process. In terms of treatment, as it is similar to sarcoma/SCC, radiotherapy is the preferred option rather than chemo?

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:29:56 GMT

[quote user="Gerry Polton"]I've seen feline sarcoidosis. [/quote]Malcolm, we of little faith, we should have known Gerry would be along.

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Gerry Polton — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:27:20 GMT

I've seen feline sarcoidosis. By the time of diagnosis these are relatively aggressive infiltrative tumours that need to be managed in the same way as a sarcoma or squamous cell carcinoma in the same site. They can be very infiltrative indeed, more so than you might imagine on simple physical examination. The localisation (mucocutaneous junctions only in my experience) makes this a real problem. Although the papillomavirus aetiology is established, I don't believe that biological response modifiers are going to do diddly squat if all cases are like the ones I have seen. That is in contrast to the position with feline Bowenoid squamous cell carcinoma in situ which responds very well to the topical application of the genital warts cream, imiquimod (I always tell my pharmacist it's for my patients-not sure whether this is even more scary knowing that I am a vet or simply ticking the box of social expectation!!).

Hope that helps

Gerry

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Malcolm Ness — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:25:35 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"] these are most
consistent with feline sarcoids.[/quote]

That is quite speculative. Given the rarity of the condition and the lack of a proven therapy, I would be looking for a second opinion on the histology. I don't know who did the first look but my wife (a dermatologist) has very good things to say about Trevor Whitbread at Abbey when it comes to derm histopath. If Trevor did the first look (it doesn't read like one of his reports) then I would call him up and talk things through.

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Anthony Dennison — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:20:00 GMT

I can't say I was aware of this, though I have to admit I'de never heard of it before, but below is from the histology report:

Spindle cell proliferations, especially in cats can be difficult to
characterise. In this case, given the similar proliferation in two
locations and also the nature of the proliferations, these are most
consistent with feline sarcoids. These are papillomavirus induced lesions.
They tend to develop on the philtrum, nares, digits, upper lip and tails.
Their behaviour is very similar to equine sarcoids.

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 10:59:30 GMT

+1 with Malcolm and if Langford haven't seen them it sounds like a (very) long shot but never say never. Perhaps the histology needs to be re-visited

Re: Treating Feline Sarcoids

Malcolm Ness — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 10:55:25 GMT

I am probably out of date, but I thought that feline sarcoids hadn't been reported in this country.