From:
williamsdvm@comcast.net
Date: 2002-08-27 02:45:32 UTC
Subject: RE: Dodger - the report
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <17699763.1030416332709.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Author wrote:
>> Surgery went well. Everything was a beautiful, healthy looking pink and/or red, as expected. The stomach and intestines were empty. Suddenly a pyramidal shaped *thing* popped out of the right side of the incision. It was obviously not natural to the mammalian body. It looked like those clear superballs that are formed with the tiny clear balls inside. There was little or no vascularization, looked fluid-filled, if anything.
> The *growth* was tentatively attached to the right adrenal and to the liver. He was going to try to remove it, but it was precariously close to the vena cava. As this was his first ferret surgery, he really didn't want to be close to it! The first impression was, is this some growth from the diseased right adrenal gland (left was normal) or liver? He took biopsies to send off, but could not cleanly remove it so he left the remainder.
Well, the biopsies are the best way to get a diagnosis, but your description sounds much like a biliary cystadenocarcinoma - a low grade malignancy of the liver. These tumors grow slows as large bubble like formations in the liver, which are actually dilated bile ducts. If the get really large, they can conceivably cause GI problems by simply pushing the gut out of the way.
These tumors, if not completely removed, will tend to continue to grow slowly, and may eventually invade other lobes of the liver. If they get too far along, they may result in liver failure. My suggestion is that if the diagnosis is either this or biliary cysts (many pathologists misinterpret these as benign), then a re-excision with total lobectomy should be performed.
Another possibility would be an adrenal malignancy - but these are far less likely to have a bubby appearance.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM