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"Marcus"

"Marcus", a 7 year old male Rottweiler was brought to the clinic because of listleness and reduced appetite. The owners had also noticed a deep orange color to his urine. On physical examination, Marcus had noticeable loss of muscle mass about his back and hips, pale gums and mucous membranes, and a distended abdomen. Blood and urine samples were obtained for analysis and thoracic and abdominal radiographs were taken.

The image on the right is a lateral (side) view of the abdomen. A large, dense mass is visible occupying much of the abdominal cavity (arrows). On the left, a lateral view of the thorax (chest) is essentially normal in appearance. Since the abdominal mass is probably a tumor, it is important to know before surgery that there is no apparent spread of the tumor to the chest cavity. The blood test results were normal except for a moderately severe anemia. The hematocrit or packed cell volume (PCV) was 26%. The normal is between 37 and 55%. A splenic tumor or hematoma with pooling of blood was suspected. The decision was made to operate, and "Marcus" was prepared for surgery.

On the left, "Marcus" is anesthetized and prepared for surgery. On the right, the surgeon makes his initial cut to explore the abdomen.

The tumor weighed 10 pounds and was about the
size of a basketball.

The tumor and attached spleen were successfully removed. The above image is of "Marcus" still on the surgery table after the surgery was completed. The tumor that was removed weighed 10 pounds. It was submitted to the laboratory for analysis. The pathology report came back as 'hemangiosarcoma' which is a malignant tumor of the spleen. During surgery, exploration revealed no apparent spread to any other abdominal organs. "Marcus" recovered nicely and went home after several days. As of this writing, 2 years have passed with no signs of recurrence. With any malignancy, there is always the chance that the tumor may recur in the same location or elsewhere. (Updated 5/7/99)