Tripawds Three Legged Dog & Cat Forum Archives
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My dog, Emma, just had her left hind leg amputated two days ago due to Soft Tissue Sarcoma. We originally had an option where we were going to try to resect as much of the tumor as possible with clean margins, but it ended up that the tumor was very invasive within her quadricep and there was not much they could salvage, thus, we made the decision to have her leg amputated. We had a biopsy done and it said that she had a grade 1 soft tissue sarcoma. Now the surgeon is saying that it's most likely a higher grade tumor. Before surgery, we did chest xrays and verified that her lymph nodes were not swollen (so there is no sign that the cancer has spread beyond her leg). Anyone else have knowledge/dealt with soft tissue sarcomas?
Hello and welcome, your future posts will not have to wait for approval.
I'm sorry cancer has brought you and Emma here. How is she doing post op?
I think soft tissue sarcoma is a general term that covers several types of tumors. I did a forum search on Soft Tissue Sarcomas and got these results. There might be something there that can help you.
I assume they are going to get a path report on the leg- then you should know better what type of sarcoma you are dealing with and the grade.
If you have any questions about Emma's recovery be sure and check out The Reading List, or download one or more of the ebooks in the Tripawds Library.
It's a scary time, we have been there and understand.
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Maggie's Story Amputation and Chemo
Find me now on Tripawds Circle
Hi and welcome-
Hope to read more about Emma and wishing her a speedy recovery!
Hattie & Jerry
Hugs,
Hattie and Jerry Cat (right front leg and scapula amputation due to chondrosarcoma at age 14, lived 2 1/2 years post amputation, succumbed suddenly to suspected lymphoma at age 16)
10/2001 - 10/9/2017 R.I.P ~ Love you always
Hello,
I have delt with a high grade III STS on my girls back leg after she already had a front leg amputation from osteosarcoma. Supposedly if its a grade I, it could be slow growing with a lower chance of mets. you can always send out the whole leg/mass for more tests, to be sure, since it would be a larger sample. You have to pay another fee, but maybe a more definitive answer or and added immunochemical test to specify, if you are still worried, but you cant know by just looking at it, it has to go to pathology.
With my girl, we could clearly not amputate another leg, so I had it surgically removed, it was on her lower leg so less muscle tissue and we did ECT.. electrochemotherapy , because the surgery could not get clean margins due to location; but after the ECT and surgery she been 10months no regrowth.
Hopeing that your furbaby was a low grade. Definitely take him in for rechecks to be safe of lungs and body checks..
Best of luck..
Neka & Steph
Angel Neka
7/4/2003-4/5/2016
2.5yr 3x cancer warrior survivor
neka03 said
Hello,I have delt with a high grade III STS on my girls back leg after she already had a front leg amputation from osteosarcoma. Supposedly if its a grade I, it could be slow growing with a lower chance of mets. you can always send out the whole leg/mass for more tests, to be sure, since it would be a larger sample. You have to pay another fee, but maybe a more definitive answer or and added immunochemical test to specify, if you are still worried, but you cant know by just looking at it, it has to go to pathology.
With my girl, we could clearly not amputate another leg, so I had it surgically removed, it was on her lower leg so less muscle tissue and we did ECT.. electrochemotherapy , because the surgery could not get clean margins due to location; but after the ECT and surgery she been 10months no regrowth.
Hopeing that your furbaby was a low grade. Definitely take him in for rechecks to be safe of lungs and body checks..
Best of luck..
Neka & Steph
Thank you! Before we amputated, we got chest x-rays and an ultrasound of her lymph nodes done - they both came back clear, so we went ahead with amputation. We are sending the entire tumor out for pathology and are awaiting results. The surgeon said that there is no way of telling the grade of tumor by looking at it, but he did say he thought it was aggressive. When we originally got the biopsy done, they said it was a grade 1 STS that has similar properties of a periovascular wall tumor. What type of STS did your baby have?
boxerhattie said
Hi and welcome-Hope to read more about Emma and wishing her a speedy recovery!
Hattie & Jerry
Thank you! It has been 4 days since her amputation and she's slowly getting better. She's on a high dose of pain meds, but we're seeing a little bit of progress each day.
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