Daisy
Soft Tissue Sarcoma
Daisy, a 10-year-old Labrador Retriever, was referred to Dr. Custead of WVRC’s Oncology Service after a soft tissue sarcoma was found and surgically removed by her primary veterinarian. The mass originally was the size of a grape but grew to the size to golf ball in just a few months. Daisy did very well after surgery and “bounced back like nothing happened.”
Because soft tissue sarcomas are locally invasive, when they grow they tend to invade surrounding structures. Invasive tumors can be difficult to remove surgically. In order to remove all of the cancer cells in an area, very wide surgical margins must be taken. Therefore, Dr. Custead recommended a surgical scar revision. Dr. Hurley surgically excised a wider margin around Daisy’s original mass site to decrease the chance of recurrent sarcomas.
To further reduce the risk of reoccurrence, Daisy was started on metronomic chemotherapy, which is very small doses of chemotherapy given orally daily at home. She did very well with the therapy and is now one year out and cancer free! Way to go Daisy.