From:
ferrethealer@aol.com
Date: 2001-08-03 18:30:00 UTC
Subject: Re KitKat's Adrenal Surgery
In a message dated 08/03/01 10:19:22 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
Ferret-Health-list@yahoogroups.com writes:
Apparently it was the right Adrenal, which is not good to begin
with, but
this was an unusual situation as the adrenal was not above the
kidney, next
to the vena cava as usual, (forgive me, I'm not a vet and am
trying to
remember exactly how my vet explained this), rather, it was under
and over
to the other side of the vena cava, invading not only the liver,
but also a
major artery below the vena cava. When he finally detached it
from the
liver and was able to see the tumor to remove it, all of a sudden
a hidden
portion of the tumor that he could not see due to where it was
located,
exploded out of what appeared to be a blood vessel or artery (I'm
not sure
exactly which he meant), and they were unable at that point to
stop the
bleeding.
I had this happen once - we did send the mass in and it was
described as a
highly aggressive malignancy by the pathologist. In that ferret's
case (and
out of sheer desperation) I put pressure on the aorta long enough to
see the
artery that was bleeding for long enough to get a ligaclip on it.
Unfortunately, although that did stop the bleeding, the ferret had
lost
enough blood that even a transfusion didn't save her. One of my
own, BTW.
Since then, if I open a ferret up that has a right adrenal that
extends under
the vena cava to that extent, I close the ferret back up without
attempting
removal (since I don't yet have cryosurgery available at my hospital
- sigh)
and offer either Lupron or a referral for cryo.
Oh, and an artery is a type of blood vessel - it's the one that
carries blood
away from the heart. A vein is a blood vessel that carries blood
back to the
heart.
Dr. Ruth
*****************************************
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