Thoughts on Histiocytoma

[robinette]

Hi all,

I would like your opinions on Histiocytoma's. Vegas has one on his elbow and from researching it seems common. He has had it for almost 3 weeks and it has gotten considerably bigger since I first noticed it. It was the size of a tiny pimple and now it is almost the size of a kidney bean. 2cm x 9mm to be exact (our vet told us to measure it to keep track).

We had a Fine Needle Asperiate done to determine what it was and the lab came back confirming a Histiocytoma.

Now, I am wondering how many of you think that it should be removed right away. I am not sure how often or quick they actually decrease and go away or for the most part do they get bigger?

Part of me wants to wait to see if it retreats but at the same time I don't want it to get any bigger an cause more problems.

Any thoughts or opinions would help.

Thanks,

 

[dy74]

Sam had one on his head/neck. Once it dried up, it went away fairly quickly and now you'd never know it had been there.

 

[Net45582]

If it's been confirmed as a histiocytoma I would wait and see what happens. If it gets much larger or gets knocked or bumped alot I would consider having it removed.

 

[Boxer_21]

Boy do I know about these things! My oldest boxer Riley has had 2 of them removed and a few that were left to heal on their own. The first that he had removed was on his hind left leg. The vet did the aspirate and determined it was a histiocytoma, but because of the location she recommended that we have it removed. The second one that was removed was on his back. When he played with Mason it got cut a couple of times and drew blood, again the vet recommended to have it removed. The ones that we left alone were all on his face. One was near his eye and he had a couple on his chin. Because of the location of these we decided to just keep a close eye on them and hope they healed alone and luckily they did.

In your case, as long as your vet is certain that it's a histiocytoma and it's in a place where it won't be cut open or irritated by normal activiy I'd say just keep a very close eye on it. If you see any noticable changes with the size or color I'd probably just it removed to be on the safe side.

 

[KCboxer4]

Houston had one on the lowere part of his ear, we took him to the vet, said it should go away on it's own, watch it for a month, if it's still there, we can take it off. It went completely away, hope this helps.

 

[robinette]

Thanks guys, that was what I was looking for, just some reassurance I guess. I was having a hard time making a decision on what to do.

I think I will keep measuring it over the next week. I tentitavly booked an appt with the vet to have to removed on Wednesday. If it stay's the same size in the next week, I will wait a bit longer if it retreats. If it grows over the next week I guess I will have it removed.

Poor little guy, It doesn't bother him in the least but I don't want to put him out for surgery if it will retreat.

How fast and big did it grow from the time you first noticed it to the time it retreated or was removed?

 

[jray]

Oskar has had 3. and my breeder told me to put iodine on them 3 times a day. I did this and they dried up rather quickly. The fur is back and you would never know they were there. Oskar's got to be about the size of a pea or pencil eraser.

 

[Rock's Ma]

Duke had one on his rear leg. It probably took 3 months or so to completely go away, now you can't even tell where it was.

 

[Albie]

Jack had a large histiocytoma removed from his rear leg in January. Even though we had a needle aspirate done and it was believed we were dealing with a histiocytoma, the vet said you can never be totally certain on a diagnosis with a needle aspirate. The only way to be totally sure what you are dealing with is to have the lump removed and sent out for biopsy. We did wait several weeks before having the lump removed to see what it did. Jack's histocytoma grew quite large and would bleed like crazy. It was a real mess. The vet said it bled because these types of lumps are very vascular. We ended up having the lump removed since Jack was scheduled to be neutered. The biopsy results confirmed it was a histiocytoma. I think it's fine to keep an eye on it for a while. However, if it starts getting large, bleeds a lot, and you start feeling uncomfortable about the way it looks, have it removed.

 

[robinette]

the vet said you can never be totally certain on a diagnosis with a needle aspirate. The only way to be totally sure what you are dealing with is to have the lump removed and sent out for biopsy. We did wait several weeks before having the lump removed to see what it did.

Thanks Albie, this anwsered some questions that keep popping up. I keep wondering if the aspirate will say one thing, then when the lump is sent to the lab will they come back saying that its somthing totally different, like a malignant/benign cancer or somthing.

Rock's Ma - Thanks for that as well. I was wondering what kind of time frame i was looking at here. I am sure its different for all though.

Its the waiting game that's killing me. Waiting to see if it gets bigger or shrinks. I guess yours was more of a problem, vegas's has bled yet and hopfully doesn't.

Thanks again to all.