A female Staffie Bull Terrier was admitted to us at West Midlands Veterinary Referrals for the removal of a mass from the caudal thigh. This was likely to be a soft tissue sarcoma from fine needle aspirates done by the referring vet, and the owner requested excision on that basis without further confirmatory biopsy.
The mass was removed with 2 cm skin margins and a generous layer of the deep underlying hamstring muscle to maximise the chance of completely removing the cancerous tissue. The wound closed together with a bit of persuasion, and this tough dog walked out with no discernible lameness a few hours later!
Two weeks later, the wound was healing nicely, no lameness was seen, and the lab had confirmed generous excision margins around and below the mass, so recurrence is very unlikely.
27th October 2018
