From:
"Roger Vaughn"
Date: 2003-07-21 13:55:46 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Trixie's Biopsy results
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <41884.161.254.5.251.1058795746.squirrel@mail.seaconinc.com>
I can't interpret all of this without looking some of it up (I'm NOT
medically trained), but I can clarify the highlights for you.
> THE ASPIRATES ARE OF VARIABLE CELLULABITV. THREE
> SLIDES CONTAIN ONLY ABUNDANT PERIPHERAL BLOOD AND A
> VARIABLE AMOUNT OF EXTRACELLULAR FREE LIPID.
Three of the slides had only blood and fat. You will want to ask your
vet where each of the four slides came from - it's unclear from this
report (by my reading anyway) whether your vet aspirated four
different sites or a single site.
> NO LYMPHOID TISSUE IS OBSERVED IN ANY OF THE ASPIRATES.
It sounds like your vet found a fat pocket rather than a lymph node -
there were no lymph node cells on any of the slides.
> THIS IS
> BELIEVED TO BE A MALIGNANT NEOPLASM HOWEVER,
> HISTOPATHOLOGY IS NECESSARY TO FURTHER DEFINE IT.
"Malignant neoplasm" is popularly called cancer. This is not what you
want to hear. Also, they are not able to positively determine what's
wrong, so the suggest additional work.
> THE CYTOPLASMA OCCASIONALLY CONTAINS
> SMALL NUMBERS OF FAINT, PURPLE GRANULES WHICH RAISES
> THE CONCERN FOB A POORLY DIFFERENTIATED MAST CELL
> TUMOR. OTHER DIFFERENTIALS WOULD INCLUDE AN ANAPLASTIC
> ROUND CELL TUMOR OR SARCOMA.
The pathologist is unable to determine exactly what the tumor is.
Note that "mast cell tumor" is just a suggestion here, not a definite
diagnosis. Since malignant mast cell tumors are very rare in ferrets,
but common in certain other species, what you probably have here is a
general animal pathologist grasping at straws to describe what he's
seeing.
It sounds like Trixie does have something going on in there.
"Neoplasm" refers to an abnormal growth - some are benign, like most
ferret mast cell tumors, and some are malignant and therefore more
dangerous. The malignant neoplasms are what we call "cancer".
Like you have already heard - it's highly unlikely that her chordoma
"spread". But it does sound like she has another, unrelated growth in
her abdomen. If the chordoma is bothering her - or expanding - it
would not hurt to go ahead and take care of it, and deal with this
other problem separately.
If I were you, I would ask your vet to try to get the slides back from
the lab and send them to a ferret-trained histopathologist. (I don't
know if names are allowed in this context but I'll try...) ZooPath
and Univ. of Arizona among others have such pathologists. If your vet
can't get the slides back, I would think it would be worth your while
to get *another* aspirate done and sent to one of these other labs, to
try to get a more definite diagnosis.
In my opinion - and that's all it is - your vet is jumping to
conclusions and giving up too soon. This report *suggests* mast cell
tumor, but doesn't definitely identify it. Since malignant mast cell
tumors are so rare in ferrets, I would really want to be looking
harder for a more definite answer.
roger & the wolverine wannabees
missing bear and lancelot