My dog's biopsy shows pre-cancerous cells. Is surgery needed?

If your vet recommends removing the growth, it's likely a good idea. In a senior dog like Cookie, there is always a chance it could be cancer, which is why it's ideal to remove it to prevent it from spreading. If the growth is cut out with wide margins and the cancer hasn't already spread, it is possible that it can be cured completely without further treatment. The vet will do everything they can to remove the tumor fully, and I would imagine they would let you know if there was a concern that it couldn't be removed completely or if she wouldn't heal properly. I do advocate for removing growths in a senior dog especially if there is a concern it's cancer, but I highly recommend speaking to your vet about your concerns. Having an in-depth conversation with them may help allay your worries. I hope this helps!

There is something called a cytology where a sample of cells can be sent to the lab to try and get an answer before a biopsy. This could be done before for sure going under anesthesia to remove them. Without some kind of sampling, it is impossible to tell what they are unfortunately. Good luck

It sounds as if your vet is concerned that your dog has a malignant tumor, most likely squamous cell carcinoma. If there is suspicion about the malignancy of a tumor the best course of action is to have it removed. I can understand your concerns about Dahlia undergoing surgery but it would be safer and easier to remove it now, while it is smaller, then it would be if it was left to continue to grow. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

The steps I would take are 1. Pre/operative blood panel 2. Chest X-ray to make sure there are no metastatic masses in the chest. 3. Complete surgical removal of the mass with wide margins AND spay at the same time. 4. Submit tumor for histopathology to see if it is malignant. Make sure the chest X-ray is clear. If this is malignant and has already metastasized to the chest, then successful outcome for long term survival changes. Surgical removal will not make it spread faster. I don’t think cryotherapy is a good idea because the surgical area will be too large and she needs to be spayed also. These tumors are very hormonally dependent. Her ovaries need to be removed as well as the tumor. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi and thanks for posting! If it is a small mass, taking a biopsy may be hard to do. They do need a fairly good and complete piece of tissue to properly evaluate it. Sometimes if small masses are concerning from appearance to your veterinarian, they may recommend just removing it completely and sending off the tissue to a pathologist for evaluation. I hope this helps!

Hello, and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. A needle aspirate is the standard way to get an initial "suspected" diagnosis on a lump, but there are limitations to what a needle sample can tell us. If the cells in the needle sample appear worrisome, then the next diagnostic step is to send in a biopsy (surgical "chunk") of the tumor, or to remove the tumor itself and send the whole thing in to the lab for analysis. So, was removal of the ear necessary? I can't say, I don't know enough about the location or size of the mass. I didn't see the slide from the initial needle aspirate. But if the needle aspirate looked worrisome, and the next step is to remove the tumor or cut a piece of the tumor off, then removing that piece of the ear may have been the only way to find out for sure what the tumor was, and whether surgical removal was curative. Rather than regretting in hindsight that the surgery was done because the histopathology report came back as a histiocytoma, I would be focusing on the good news that Tate doesn't have a malignant mast cell tumor. And removal and lab analysis of the tumor was the only way you could have gotten that news. Hope this helps!

Hello. An actual biopsy is often much more diagnostic than an aspirate, but honestly, with a lesion this small, why not just remove the whole thing now & send it for pathology? If the entire lesion is removed, this may be curative. I would talk to your veterinarian about this option. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.