From:
elnrrgby1@aol.com
Date: 2001-11-04 03:15:00 UTC
Subject: Histiocytoma- in spleen and other organs
Hi all,
I just had an exploratory on my ferret, Bhut, last week. I've
posted about him before....the possible lymphoma that's never
been diagnosed. Anyway, his spleen was getting huge and his
belly was painful, and he was also showing potential adrenal
signs, so we did an exploratory. Once in, the doctor called
me and said "it's bad". The liver is completely covered in
hard, white nodules that are 1-3 mm in size. The spleen was
gray/black with nodules through it. Abdominal lymph nodes
extremely enlarged. Because of the condition of the liver, I
opted for him to just take the spleen and anything else he
could take that looked funky (he was worried about the liver
looking friable in places and worried about the possibility of
a major hemorrhage if he did more). He ended up taking the
spleen, one lymph node that was adhered to the spleen, and
some fatty tissue that had nodules in it as well. We sent
half of the tissue samples to Purdue University for
histopathology and I have the other half here in case Dr.
Williams is interested in them.
Anyway, the reason I'm writing is because the preliminary
report is stating that this is a histiocytoma. The doctor
told me that the pathologist also said that it was related to
a sarcoma and very aggressive and that there were no treatment
options other than palliative care. The final report should
be done within the week I think, and I'll post that
information once I get it if anyone is interested.
I've heard of histiocytomas before, but only as benign skin
tumors in dogs. I spent the day yesterday at work going
through multiple reference books trying to find more
information, or some reference to this showing up internally
and again found nothing other than the skin tumor information.
I was (still am) pretty confused by the fact that in the
skin, these types of tumors are usually benign but with
Bhut's, they are saying it's both malignant and extremely
aggressive. I was given an explanation for this by my vet who
basically just said that although the descriptive term
histiocytoma is the same, the location of the cells/tumors
dictates the behavior of the cells/tumors. Guess that makes
sense, but I still don't know that I really get it.
Anyway, if anyone knows anything about histiocytomas other
than how they act when in the skin, I'd really appreciate the
info. I don't know that it's going to make much difference
for Bhut, but just for personal information, I'd like to know
as much as possible.
Thanks,
Stacia
Bhut's Pages
(http://aferretfreak.crosswinds.net/Bhutspages.htm)