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Discussion on Possible SCC?
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New Member:
Gillb
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Posted on Monday, Oct 6, 2003 - 12:28 pm:
My horse has had a discharge from his sheath for a month or so and my vet thinks he has possible SCC. You can see a raised flattish pink area with a granulated surface on the inside of the sheath measuring approx 5cms x 3cms, and there is quite a bit of smelly white discharge. Otherwise he seems perfectly okay in himself.
He is going into vet hospital this week to confirm the diagnosis; can you tell me please whether treatment in this area is generally successful and what the prognosis is - is it common for this type of cancer to spread?
I was interested to read in another related post about spotted horses having a greater incidence of this type of cancer. My horse is a 10 year old liver chestnut Morgan but just this year he has started getting white spots all over his body. I did ask my vet if the spots and possible SCC could be connected, but he didn't think so. What is your opinion on this?
Many thanks.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Oct 7, 2003 - 6:16 am:
I agree they are unrelated. IN the scientific report section of the article you will find the following report which details the prognosis of SCC of the sheath:
Equine Vet J 2000 Sep;32(5):406-10
Surgical treatment of 45 horses affected by squamous cell carcinoma of the penis and prepuce.
DrO
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Member:
Gillb
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Posted on Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 - 4:17 am:
Just to say the biopsy showed the lesion to be a papilloma, not carcinoma - what a relief! He will have cryosurgery to remove this.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Oct 12, 2003 - 6:46 am:
That is great Gill.
DrO
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Member:
Gillb
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Posted on Monday, Nov 10, 2003 - 1:34 pm:
Dr O, just a query on cryosurgery. My horse was treated with this for his papilloma, and the surgeon said it would probably slough off in a few days. Well it has been nearly three weeks now and nothing seems to have happened at all - the lesion looks exactly the same with the same discharge.
I did speak to the vet and he said to leave it a couple more weeks; in your experience what is the usual time to see a response to the cryosurgery? And would it make a difference the fact that the lesion is in a moist internal position rather than external?
I am wondering if my horse will have to have further treatment if there is no change; although the vet did say he would be surprised if nothing happened after three freeze/thaw treatments.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Nov 11, 2003 - 7:17 am:
I would have expected some necrosis by now and no I don't think this location changes the outcome.
DrO
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Member:
Gillb
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Posted on Friday, Dec 12, 2003 - 9:35 am:
Dr O, an update on my horse. The cryosurgery evidently didn't work and they are now trying a chemotherapy cream on the tumour, called Flourouracil or something like that. The vet said that in his experience tumours that didn't respond to cryosurgery tend to be stubborn and may not respond to other treatments.
The other option in this case would be surgery; with the possibiity of re-routing surgery involving the amputation of his penis. 
I am keeping my fingers crossed that he does not have to go through this ordeal, but if he does, would he recover and be 100% normal?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Dec 13, 2003 - 8:27 am:
The only reason for the cryo to not work is that it did not get cold enough, perhaps a different technique could be employed? Why would a pappiloma of the sheath require amputation of the penis?
DrO
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Member:
Gillb
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Posted on Saturday, Dec 13, 2003 - 1:15 pm:
Well apparently they did three cryo treatments within 20 mins of eachother, and each time the vet touched the lesion to make sure it was frozen. I must say it was my first thought that perhaps it hadn't been done properly, and I did mention this but evidently it was, or so they said.
The vet said that if the lesion was left untreated then it would grow and there would be a risk it would turn malignant and metastase (it has already got larger and produced two extra satellites).
He said there may not be enough skin to operate locally as when the wound healed it would lessen the amount of skin available that the penis needs to DrOp during during urination, and the penis may not be able to function properly. Therefore the only other alternative is the re-routing.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Dec 14, 2003 - 9:19 am:
It is not always a matter of "doing it properly". If the pappaloma was deeply frozen throughout it would die and be gone. It may be there is too much mass and not enough cold for the technique used. Just because the outside is frozen does not mean the whole tumor was. If the tumor is bulky 5-flourouracil also will not be able to kill the whole tumor, although sometimes the necrosis results in immune stimulation and resolution.
If you do not get a response, I think it might be time to find a surgeon who can find a better technique or method that results in resolution without penis amputation.
DrO
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