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Discussion on Malignant melanoma -- options?
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Member:
nonie
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Posted on Monday, Feb 11, 2008 - 1:12 pm:
I have a 14 year old Arab/Trakehner who is a successful endurance horse.
He's had no history of visible melanoma (he's grey) but had a small penile tumor last year, which we had removed, sent for analysis (benign melanocyte).
Another tumor developed in the same location, larger, different appearance (at least walnut sized). We removed this one as well, trying to get plenty of tissue in order to get all the margins. It was also sent off for analysis and came back as "malignant melanoma" with malignant cells in the vessels approaching the margins.
Not good, I know.
What are our options? I've been told everything from testing the lymph nodes to see if it's spread, to doing nothing and waiting to see what happens, to cimetidine (I have another young horse on it), to removal of the penis and sheath.
Thought perhaps something new was being researched since some of the posts on this topic are a bit older.
Thanks for any help.
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Member:
nonie
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Posted on Monday, Feb 11, 2008 - 1:38 pm:
Just to clarify for the minions, this is my friend Patti posting. She is staying at my house and I opened HA so she could search about Ned. Don't worry, I haven't traded in Molly for an Arab. 
Ned is a phenomenal horse, and we'd appreciate any info any of you have on similar situations. He's a hundred mile endurance pro, and it's difficult to imagine him ever being anything but top of his form. I've had the great pleasure of crewing for him and Patti on their rides and I have to say, he is larger than life. My prayers are with him.
Zoe
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Member:
nonie
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Posted on Monday, Feb 11, 2008 - 6:02 pm:
Zoe checking back in. My friend got the histopathology report faxed and here's the comments:
"The mass has densely packed, epitheloid cells that have moderate to marked nuclear size variation. Cells are variably pigmented and there is partial necrosis. Mitotic activity is moderate to high and variable (1 to 3 per hpf). Nuclei are large with vesiculated chromatin and large nucleoli. There is epithelial invasion and some cells in vessels. It has features that have classically been described as equine anaplastic melanoma and this has increased metastatic potential. Clinic staging is advised. There are a couple of separate foci of neoplastic cells involving vessels. The sample has just a small portion of an apparent margin with intravascular cells within <1 mm of the margin."
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008 - 10:01 am:
Hello Zoe,
The article on melanomas received an update within the last month so represents the latest information available in the scientific and veterinary literature.
Zoe, I would ask you review the rules for membership. We have always encouraged the spreading of information in the articles to non-members hopefully with credit. But we discourage the use of the boards by non-members for many reasons but one is the constraints of time. For more see Join Horseadvice.com! ยป Membership Rules.
DrO
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Member:
nonie
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008 - 10:22 am:
Of course, Dr. O, I'm so sorry. Patti was just here for dinner and I opened the HA so she could read some stuff. I'm sure she'd be more than willing to join. We are both very worried about Ned; I almost feel as if he were my own.
Thanks for your help. 
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Member:
infiniti
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 21, 2009 - 12:46 pm:
I own a 10 yr. old gray quarter horse who just (March 17, 2009)had several small melanomas removed (in the usual places) with a laser. I have 2 questions:
1. He weighs 1365 lbs. and will be given 2400/mg of cimetidine orally 3x a day for 30 days and then 1600/mg 3x for 30 days and repeated until the next refill. Will this work? He has some small swellings in his throat latch area that are really scaring me!
2. My horse is a very picky eater...I grounded up some (3 pills) and they are really bitter. I will need to put these meds in a grain mixture of sorts because I keep him at a boarding stable and asking someone to use a syringe would really be out of the question even though this is not a problem for me. Any suggestions from you or others would be greatly appreciated.
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Member:
klowe
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 21, 2009 - 2:37 pm:
Hi Pam, welcome to HA. I am a relatively amateur horse-keeper, and since I don't know how to do lots of stuff everyone else does, I have tried lots of different techniques.
In order to giving paste for worming (which is extremely bitter, don't ever taste it!) I have used something called Enjoy-yums, which are kind of like flat pastry with stickier insides, you just put the medicine inside and feed like a treat...they are a little pricey, but you can get them at https://www.gcoopersmith.com. They come with instructions, and the horses seem to like them. The only concern would be not to give them to insulin-resistant horses as they have a lot of sugar, and they recommend mixing the meds with honey...
Good luck!
Kathy
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Member:
klowe
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 21, 2009 - 2:38 pm:
Ooops! the product is actually called Medi-yums.
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 22, 2009 - 11:14 am:
Most boarding barn managers have the skill to give meds and are happy to do so for a small fee. It might be worth an ask. I love the idea of the Medi-yums, though and am going to look them up for myself.
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Member:
canter
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 22, 2009 - 11:39 am:
Kathy, I'm not sure how the price of the Medi-Yums compares to Stud Muffins. You may want to check it out. I don't have a catalog nearby to check, but most places sell them. I've been using Stud Muffins for years to give meds. For example, for 1 bute tab, I break the tab in half, insert it into 1/2 of a Stud Muffin, squish the Stud Muffin all around the pill and my horse will wolf it down before she realizes there's anything in there. Repeat the process for the 2nd 1/2 of the pill & Muffin.
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