33. Breast nodules in 6-year-old Maltese

As many Singapore dog owners want the cheapest veterinary surgery, many breast tumours in dogs are not sent for histopathology. In this 6-year-old female Maltese which I operated to remove the closed pyometra womb and recorded in:
http://www.bekindtopets.com /dogs/20100135Video_Education_Closed_Pyometra_ToaPayohVets.htm,

the nodules were analysed. The report is as follows:

GROSS DESCRIPTION. A piece of tissue measuring 1.7 cm x 1.5 cm x 0.7cm.
MICROSCOPIC DESCRIPTION. Section shows skin with a well circumscribed nodule in the dermis. It consists of elongated and dilated ducts lined by hyperplastic columnar epithelium with papillary infoldings and which join up to form lobules. A loose fibroblastic stroma is present within the vicinity of the lobules and other areas show lobules of mature cartilage. No malignancy is seen.

DIAGNOSIS
Breast tissue. Benign mixed tumour of the skin


I was surprised. I thought it was a breast tumour. The lab doctor said this was a skin tumour which happened to be over the breast. She would consult another doctor for a second opinion.












Human pathology is applied to this case as the lab does human. She gets dog and cat growth from various vets in Singapore. Mast cell tumours from the limbs in dogs from her experience. Overall, tumours are classified according to human medicine and she said there were differences.

"I believe a cancerous cell is the same, whether from the dog and cat or from human beings," I said.

"There was a vet pathologist I knew many years ago, I can't remember her name," she said. "You know, you can send your biopsy samples to a veterinary pathology lab in Singapore. I don't know why vets send samples to us. We are doing the vets a favour as we do human histopathology," the lady doctor said over the phone.

"I have never heard of a veterinary pathologist in Singapore," I said. "Vet pathologists are post-graduate specialists and I don't know of any vet who is this specialist. Pl let me know the name of the specialist."

"I will phone you back after I find it," she said.

Her text message: "The lab that accepts animal histo is CVL-AVA tel 6316 5172". The lab is in my "backyard!"