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Need feedback about Spleen Tumor

32K views 63 replies 24 participants last post by  Doug 
#1 ·
My 12 year old Golden/Collie mix had emergency surgery last week to remove her spleen after it burst. The Dr. said she had a tumor in the spleen which was also removed. There was one questionable spot on her liver but the Dr. said that it might have been a benign nodule. He said that the pathology would be able to tell us what was going on. 1 1/2 weeks later, there have been two rounds of pathology, all came back "inconclusive". They are now getting the rest of the spleen from the vet for testing. The said that they feel there are cancerous cells present, but while some characteristics are consistent with Hemangiosarcoma, others are not . My question is, has anyone had experience where there dog had a cancerous tumor of the spleen which was not hemangiosarcoma? If so, what was the outcome? Any information will be appreciated.
Thanks.
 
#3 ·
I have seen leiomyosarcomas which are malignant. I have also seen leiomyomas which are not. Even non malignant tumors can rupture. The problem with a malignant tumor rupturing is that it then seeds the abdomen with tumor cells. Five years ago, when I was taking my almost 12 year old golden girl for an abdominal ultrasound, she jumped out of the car at the referral place and was instantly laterally recumbent(due to splenic rupture). I carried her in, they found hemagiosarcoma. I asked the specialist what she would do. She said, if we took the spleen out and did nothing else, my Laney might live 2 more months. She said if after the surgery, we did chemo, she would live 6 months. She also said that if it were her dog, she would euthanize... so I did.
 
#5 ·
Copper had his spleen removed due to noncancerous tumors 02/04/2009. They were found during an ultrasound for a different problem and the vet was comfortable monitoring for a while. Two months later a repeat ultrasound revealed growth in one tumor and he had surgery soon after.

He also had a tumor in his stomach that was found and removed at the same time. Again, all were benign so I have no experience with a cancerous tumor, but he recoverd from the surgery and was going on 3 mile trail rides 2.5 weeks later. it never slowed him down.

He died 20 months later from some form of cancer, but we didn't get a diagnosis since it was very fast from "He has cancer" to a total system failure (36 hours). He did have more frequent skin infections and had a harder time fighting off "things" after his splenectomy, but a large increase in his dose of antibiotics and diligent bathing with medicated shampoo kept that under control.

His liver was "bright" on exam for the tumors and he started Denamarin for liver health and function just in case. I hope your girl does as well or even better than he did and he had a great life after.
 
#6 ·
I believe Hotel 4 Dogs' Toby is also a spleenless dog with a benign diagnosis. There is another forum member here who also got a benign diagnosis after splenectomy. I believe the literature states it's 50/50 benign vs. malignant. Our own oncology vet told us it was skewed more for malignant in his practice and for goldens, even more. In our family it's 100% malignant with 2 Goldens. :(

I'm sorry you are going through this. It is scary and waiting for definitive results must be excruitatingly painful.
 
#7 ·
My first dog Kay Cee had her spleen removed at 12. It was only a hematoma, there were no cancer cells of any type. She lived 3 more years. But I am sorry to say that I think the fact that they even found questionable cells doesn't sound good. Most dogs that I have seen with Hemangiosarcoma of the spleen will live 60 -90 days if the spleen is removed. And those tend to be very good days. Cherish every day...
 
#8 ·
Thank you all very much for the information. Unfortunately, it's not what I would have liked to hear. They do feel there is cancer present, but they just can't confirm Hemangiosarcoma as of now. If they didn't know whether or not there was cancer, that would give me more hope. The Dr. said if the third pathology report comes back inconclusive, he will sonogram her liver to see if it looks clear. If it's clear, he will hope for the best and leave her alone. If it's not clear then we know it must have been Hemangiosarcoma. After the reading I have done, I and my family are not inclined to put her through Chemo as it doesn't seem to be very successful. I suppose I will continue to hope that she will be the exception until I am not able to do that anymore.
Thanks
 
#11 ·
Thank you all very much for the information. Unfortunately, it's not what I would have liked to hear. They do feel there is cancer present, but they just can't confirm Hemangiosarcoma as of now. If they didn't know whether or not there was cancer, that would give me more hope. The Dr. said if the third pathology report comes back inconclusive, he will sonogram her liver to see if it looks clear. If it's clear, he will hope for the best and leave her alone. If it's not clear then we know it must have been Hemangiosarcoma. After the reading I have done, I and my family are not inclined to put her through Chemo as it doesn't seem to be very successful. I suppose I will continue to hope that she will be the exception until I am not able to do that anymore.
Thanks
Courage and prayers with you. Have no doubt you are doing the right thing for your dog... the more I hear about Hemangio, the scarier it seems.
 
#9 ·
I am so sorry you are having such a hard time with the pathology reports.
Please ask about a liver supplement if the sonogram looks clear. You can use milk thistle and SAM-e (the OTC for mood) to help with liver function and it wouldn't hurt. Just a "just in case" as my vet said. We also did an ultrasound of Copper's heart to before his splenectomy since hemangio often shows up there too.

there are a few of us on here with dogs who beat the odds. It sure would be wonderful if your girl did too.
 
#10 ·
Never give up hope. We have a dog on here who just passed the 2 year mark from her hemangio surgery. Lacey however, did not have it attached to any organs. Sending prayers
 
#13 ·
We have had two goldens with spleen tumors, with subsequent splenectomy. One was hemangiosarcoma, the other was not. Both tumors had burst. THe one with the benign tumor lived just about 2 years from the splenectomy to the age of almost 14. Our other guy with HSA we lost this past January almost 7 months past his splenectomy. I would also suggest as someone else had to have them check out your guys heart as that is most likely a secondary site if any. Have read that with HSA speen tumors that 25% have heart tmor existing.
We did opt for chemo as ultrasound showed clean major organs. I do tend to agree with you that chemo though is generally useless for the disease. I have seen the stats on longevity and chemo with HSA but frankly they are not controlled studies.
It is a highly personal decision though. Though I am not sure if I would go the chemo route if i have another dog with HSA I must say that our guy handled it well and we virtually no ill-effects.
 
#14 ·
Thanks "TuckerBailey". It is a little more encouraging to hear that your Golden lived for 7 months after splenectomy. In your dogs case, the chemo was effective to a point. I suppose I am not clear as to what difference it makes if the end result of the pathology is "inconclusive" if they still think she has some form of cancer but just can't pin point it. Are all forms of spleen cancer fatal?
 
#15 ·
Thankfully I have no experience with this kind of cancer/tumors but am praying with you that there is a good outcome. Never, ever give up hope until there is absolutely no reason left to hope some more. I'm sorry you're having to go through this at all.
 
#16 ·
jchap

jchap

I am so VERY SORRY you and your sweetie are going through this.

Our male Samoyed, Snobear,had hemangiosarcoma literally it appeared overnight.
He was playing, eating romping in the morning and then listless and anemic and pale gums in the evening. Ken rushed him to the vet.

They did an xray and bloodwork at the vet and said they thought it looked like he had a mass from the xray. The vet explained that without the exploratory surgery and a biopsy they wouldn't know for sure if it was cancer. We had them do the exploratory surgery and they found a big mass on one lobe of the liver and spots on the other. They came to talk to us while Snobear was still under anethesia and they said they were 90% sure it was hemangiosarcoma, but could not say for sure without taking a biopsy and waiting days for the results. Their comment to us, was even if they were to remove the tumors and do the biopsy we would probably be back in 1-2 months with the same agonizing decision. Ken and I chose to say goodbye to our sweet Snobear, while he was still under anesthesia from the surgery.
 
#17 ·
How is your dog doing post surgery? Is she recovering well?

When we had surgery to remove our Danny's spleen, we had no plans of going the chemo route even if he had cancer. Our plan at the time was to give ourselves and him a little more time. Unfortunately with him he never woke up from the surgery (blood clot).

That is one thing to keep in mind - as well as the fact that your dog is an old girl, she's going to need a lot of help with what time she has left. Aside from cancer, there are health concerns about her immune system because of the spleen being gone.

Our vet discussed everything from helping our guy get around and keeping him as quiet as possible until he recovered completely from the surgery to avoid any infections or tearing his stitches. He was one of those who could not handle wearing the lampshade back when he had his hotspots. He would have anxiety issues over it. So that was an added concern we had about his recovery time.

And we knew he would have to be on a special diet and meds for possibly the rest of his life.

The last thing on our minds when we signed all of the paperwork and handed over the money for the surgery was what we would do if he had cancer. And I know we didn't even hope that he would live beyond those 6 precious months that our vet felt was possible.

Keep in mind with Danny - the melon sized tumor on his spleen had not ruptured yet. When he would lie down, the tumor was pressing on things and causing him pain, and that was the reason why we rushed him to the vet. With him he was perfectly fine as long as he wasn't lying down. Our last view of him was him wiggling around the vet techs and wagging his tail. So we had a very strong hope for those 6 months.

That said, even though the tumor did not rupture, the location of the tumor (spleen) and type of tumor (blood) meant that the cancer had already spread. They found the beginnings of tumors in his heart and lungs. He had his heart and lungs examined by a specialist a few months earlier and there were no signs of those tumors then, which tells you how fast growing they can be.

Give your dog a lot of hugs and spoil her rotten. And take it one step at a time.
 
#18 ·
I certainly understand that choice. We had a little different situation. When we brought our Lassie in, she was bleeding internally.We had absolutely no idea. The vet said that she would have died at home if we didn't bring her in. At that point, they had no idea if she had a cancerous tumor or benign. Nothing showed up in the chest x-ray so we had to save her life in the chance that this was benign. Not to mention that we couldn't even absorb what was happening. It all happened so unexpectedly and so quickly. Either way, I am SO grateful that we took her to the vet that day. No matter what the final outcome is, these days that we have with her are, in my opinion, a gift as long as she seems comfortable. We knew she wasn't quite right and had we waited to take her and then found her dead, we would feel so guilty.
 
#20 ·
Jchap...to answer your direct question, I do not know if all forms of malignant spleen tumors are fatal although stating the obvious it is one of those things you hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Our very first golden had osteosarcoma. when we first noticed a lump they biopsied several times. They also came back with "inconclusive" results. Unfortunately within a year he became ill, it was cancer and he passed within 6 months. We also opted for chemo then.
but i think in that case also it likely did not extend Dudley's life.
Unfortunately the only advice I can proffer is as all the other good folks on this thread have said and to spoil the heck out of them. When Tucker had his splenectomy my wife said she had hoped in some ways that he passed then. Although I understood, I viewed it differently. I knew it was a terminal disease and we would lose him likely in a 6 month time frame. Therefore I did everything I could for him. When he became "annoying" and wanted to play ball as he constantly did, I would not brush him off as I occasionally used to but would go out in the snow and rain and hit balls to him. I still miss him terribly.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Sorry to hear about Lassie and the uncertainty of the diagnosis.

Our Maddie is fighting Hemangiosarcoma right now. She had a large tumor on her spleen that had ruptured and she had emergency surgery the early hours of the morning on January 30. She had been to the emerg vet 2 1/2 weeks before the tumor was discovered because she was very lethargic when we came home from work one day. They did a full panel of tests and didn't discover anything. Fast forward to 11 pm Jan. 29 when we took her in for what we thought was a bladder infection (she was off her food and seemed to peeing excessively) to be told she needed exploratory surgery as the Dr. discovered she had a belly full of blood.

Her spleen was removed and there were 3 tumors on it. The large one that burst and 2 smaller ones. There was no cancer visible on any of the other major organs. We opted for no chemo and so far:crossfing she is doing very well on day 52.

I hope you get the answers you need sooner than later...
 
#23 ·
Maddie's mom,
I am glad to hear that Maddie is doing well. The fact that she is here nearly two months later and doing well gives me some hope, regardless. With a 12 year old dog, I know we are on borrowed time even if this did not occur. Thank you to everyone for all your good wishes. I will keep you posted.
 
#24 ·
Well, my Hannah had a rock in her stomach, so we had it removed last week. While in surgery the doctor thought her spleen looked OK, but did notice a nodule on it. We removed it because my last Golden did get Hemangiosarcoma, and the doctor figured as long as he was "in", he would perhaps catch it before it spread. (My Hannah is 11). The doctor's "gut" feeling was that is was benign, but we did get whatever it is, early.

The doctor JUST called me. The lab reports say it is NOT hemangiosarcoma, but is IS LYMPHOMA. So now, there is a very expensive blood test I can give her that will tell us if it has spread. There is an 80% chance that it has already spread because it is in the spleen, and if it has spread, she has on the outside, 6 months left. If it hasn't spread... we are probably in the clear.

He went on to tell me there are drugs and chemo you can do, but the dogs don't feel too great on them, and still, the life expectance only goes up maybe a month or 3. So right now, I am thinking, "why do the blood test? If it is negative, great. But if it is positive, I can't do anything about it anyway... and the drugs won't do anything except prolong her suffering."

I am going to think about it over the weekend. If she were much younger and they could extend her life by a longer period of time, I would go for it. But these odds are so bad, I am thinking I might just continue to give her all the love I can, and just help her enjoy all the time she has left. Right now, she is completely a-symptomatic; running around and playing with my younger golden, and I hate to put her on a drug that will take her good feeling days away. BTW, I said to the doctor, "I am in shock; I certainly was not expecting this." He replied, "I am in complete shock as well. He spleen basically looked healthy, and nothing ever appeared in any of the x-rays."

Sorry you are going through this as well. These Goldens we LOVE them, but this cancer thing in them is hard to rise above. :(
 
#27 ·
She's Beautiful! Well, i have an update too and your post has clarified some things for us as well. As I had stated before, Lassie's first two pathology reports were inconclusive, although suspicious. The pathologist tested the rest of the spleen in an attempt to get a diagnosis. Believe it or not, the Dr. called saying the third path report was benign. So , while this is great news, we don't know whether there was some thing that is cured or was there nothing, or was there something that will come back? The Dr. suggested a few options. We can just run periodic blood work and watch her. We can sonogram her and look for mets.If we see anything, we can aspirate cells and see if there's cancer, if it's treatable. After much of the reading I have done, I am beginning to feel that if something is there and it has spread,there really isn't much we can do so why bother with all the tests? Sounds like we are in a similar situation.
 
#28 ·
5+ years after splenectomy

My Charlie has had a good 5+ happy years since his spleen was removed. An ultrasound showed a large mass on the spleen and the doctor who performed the ultrasound said to get his spleen out immediately. It was removed the next day. The pathology report showed the mass to be benign, but that is never 100% certain. Another ultrasound in late December of 2010 showed no tumors in Charlie's abdomen and the doctor commented that he is in good shape internally. But Charlie began having grand mal seizures last July and it is possible that brain tumor is the cause.

Charlie has done quite well without his spleen and he is now almost 13 years old. He is on a variety of meds - soloxine for hypothyroidism, Pheno and zonisamide for the seizures, and sometimes Rimadyl for arthritis pain.

I pray that you and your sweetheart find a happy path forward, one that leaves you at peace. Knowing what I do, I would not put a dog I love through chemo.

Sending healing thoughts, prayers and hugs,
Lucy
 
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