Comments on: Fine needle aspirates to diagnose dog cancer?

By: Paula

Paula — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:43:40 +0000

Hello Dr.
My dog (a maltese mix) has a tumor in her liver , the vet said the tumor is too big to be surgically removed , he wants to make a tru-cut biopsy of the tumor..
My dog doesnt have symptons, she eats very well, she wants to play everyday , she doesnt vomit , she’s always so happy that i cant understand!
I’m concerned about the risks of this procedure in my dog…
what is the main difference between the FNA and the tru cut aspiration?
What would you do? Thank you for any advice and i apologyze for my english (i live in Argentina)

By: kim bergeron

kim bergeron — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:57:49 +0000

I have a just turned 11 year old weimarer with a few lumps and bumps about a week ago I noticed a lump on her top neck the doctor did a biso and found it was just a fatty deposit. Now I took her again today because I noticed she went pee alittle on her blanket so I asked our regular vet to check that same lump to see if it had grown at all it hasn’t but this time i asked her to aspirate it and she got a little blood out of it and just a little blood out of a another lump she has. the doctor sent the work out and i have to wait to see what is going on. the vet said it need be depending on the results we would remove the lump. Now my question is why didn’t they find any blood the first time the aspirate the lump and please don’t tell me this is the end she is the love of my life. thank you for any advice you can give.
Kim

By: Dr. Dressler

Dr. Dressler — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:59:36 +0000

Dear Bridget,
I think you are doing all the right things. Keep it up!
Dr D

By: Bridget

Bridget — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:27:41 +0000

I just literally went through that. My girl has a mass on her side. When I got her in November (she is 10) she had fleas and mites, yeast and fungus, plus three swollen lymph nodes in the same area as the mass. I did what I could to up her immunities and the three swollen lymph nodes went back down. Still not knowing what the other lump was, I brought her to the vet but got an “inconclusive” result. I was told by the vet tech that it wasn’t a cyst or a lymph node, so I’m assuming it’s a mass. I will talk to the vet later. Hopefully, I didn’t wait too late for it to have spread, which may have been indicated by the swollen lymph nodes. She’ll go in for blood work Monday and surgery to remove the mass Tuesday. I’m planning on asking the vet if at that time, an aspirate can be done on the lymph nodes surrounding that area that were swollen, or if blood tests would indicate cancer had spread.

My other dog has a mole looking cyst in his ear (unusual site) that I was told by two different vets was a sebaceous cyst. He scratched it with his nail, now it has grown into a “cauliflower” shape, so I will have them remove that too.

I think the best thing I have recently done is stop smoking cigarettes around my dogs. I’m sure it has made them more susceptible to cancers.

By: Fine needle aspirates to diagnose dog cancer | Weak Bladder

Fine needle aspirates to diagnose dog cancer | Weak Bladder — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:29:45 +0000

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By: ch'an

ch'an — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:14:57 +0000

fine needle aspiration cost $20 today in Vancouver BC,
and the pathology lab cost $75, total with tax about $100.
most of what was extracted was fluid. lab analysis
results will come back in about three days.

By: John

John — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:45:57 +0000

how much does something like this cost?

By: admin

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:53:59 +0000

Hi Lori!
Yes, you can get a presumptive diagnosis of a sebaceous cyst. Usually you need to use the physical exam findings along with the info in the path report (or that the vet gets with an in-house slide examination of the aspirated contents). With these two bits of info (the appearance, shape and feel on the physical, and the microscopic appearance of the cyst contents), you can be pretty sure of the diagnosis. Sebaceous cysts produce a typical material within them that is pretty consistent.
Why bother with an aspirate of a suspected cyst? Well, one example is a situation you are very familiar with: mast cell tumors, the Great Imitators. You have a firm, spherical nodule within dog skin on physical. Is is a cyst?? Well, maybe. Could be other things too on occasion. So it becomes a probability game…how safe are we if say (I base this number on my personal clinical impression only…) 80% of masses with this appearance on an exam actually are sebaceous cysts. This means that sometimes these lumps are NOT, and just FEEL like they are.
I always recommend the safest option: get it checked out. That way we are safe not just for the 80% that are confirmed, but also for the 20% that are actually something totally different. This means that one in five are not. For every 5 dogs that come along, one of ‘em will have something possibly harmful. Since I see gobs of dogs, the 20% WILL walk into my exam room and I WILL have to deal with it. So I always recommend the safest options.
Good blog topic! Thanks!
Dr Dressler

By: Lori Michaelson

Lori Michaelson — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:42:19 +0000

Keep up your informative topics/threads Dr. Dressler!

Would fine needle aspiration give any info on sebaceous cysts? Not looking for cancer (or possibly) but any benefits to that?

Lori