Removing a mass from a dog's pinna

Re: Removing a mass from a dog's pinna

Richard Fox — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 19:10:21 GMT

- Oh dear - My point was the ddx of MCT CAN be rulled out on FNA and very few FNAs are definitive - its a help , a tool NOT a replacement for biopsy - a good apspirate of a HCT is usually very diagnostic so maybe your cytologist is either not confident suggesting the cells are compatible with a HCT or your aspirates are not if sufficient in yield or preservation to make the interpretation?

It is really from a legal point of view that cytology is often not definitive due to the higher possibility of the cells not being representative etc etc. but IME is a great help in making decisions - I have to say that a lot of aspirates I get to read are suboptimal!

Re: Removing a mass from a dog's pinna

Vet2Vet — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 18:47:37 GMT

[quote user="Louise Alexander"]

Almost all of the query histiocytomas I FNA, I get a 'could be histio, could be more sinister, so biopsy to be sure'. I know FNA is only cytology not architechure, but I don't find FNA-ing them very rewarding

Any tips?
Louise

[/quote]

Agree . No tip just go straight to biopsy ! ( for query sarcomas , that is )

Re: Removing a mass from a dog's pinna

Louise6732 — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:47:14 GMT

Any tips?
Louise

Re: Removing a mass from a dog's pinna

Stephen Courtney — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:23:24 GMT

It sounds like a histiocytoma....but!

Histiocytomas are rewarding to FNA, much more so than many other lumps and bumps.

I did recently have a dog with a malignant histiocytic sarcoma on the pinna margin, but that looked like an infected oozing mess. Retriever with long ear fur so by the time owner realised something was wrong it was quite ugly. Cytology was useless on that one due to inflammation and secondary infection. but that came away with good curative margins, fortunately it was the tip of the pinna so it was easy to remove, and when the hair grew back you could hardly see that one ear was 3cm shorter than the other!

Re: Removing a mass from a dog's pinna

Richard Fox — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 07:43:53 GMT

+1 for FNA as its so accessible - will make your surgery plan easier or if HCT then just leave it?

Re: Removing a mass from a dog's pinna

Busybee — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 22:41:57 GMT

It's come up over 2 weeks. Older dog, I think about 7 years. The owners are quite keen for surgery but will offer FNA first.

Re: Removing a mass from a dog's pinna

David Mills — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 22:34:20 GMT

mmmmm agree with above especially in such a place. Margins in pinnae only really applicable in one dimension i.e. how much of the pinna you remove in the direction towards the head along with the mass. It is disfiguring and the o should be prepared for such. The dogs never mind, of course, and the surgery is very simple - undermine the skin and remove enough cartilage to close the skin without tension.

Re: Removing a mass from a dog's pinna

Stephen Courtney — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:20:56 GMT

I would recommend doing a fine needle aspirate for cytology before contemplating surgery. You should be able to do this conscious in a well behaved dog, or with light sedation if you prefer.

If it is a histiocytoma surgery is probably not necessary. most of them regress spontaneously over several weeks. If it is a mast cell tumour the only way to get margins is to take a large portion of the pinna away - which is rather drastic and disfiguring. If you have cytology you can make a sensible plan.

How old is this dog? Histiocytomas are more common in younger animals but can be seen in old ones too. How long has the mass been there? Is it on the edge of the pinna or in the center?

I think you are jumping the gun a bit here going straight to surgery especially in such an awkward place. There is no spare skin and any surgery you do will deform the pinna.