Cheek tumour regrows in the old male dog

As the tumour recurs, the 11-year-old male dog did not eat again. He would not permit anyone to open his mouth. The lady owner had seen the tumour when the dog yawned and so was concerned. "Some white tissues," she said to me.

I used electro-surgery to cut as much of the tumour from the cheek as possible. It was 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm X 0.5 cm. Like a Singapore 10-cent coin with white plaques. Is it malignant or not?

The dog had to be under general anaesthesia to excise the lump and to get the right lower back teeth extracted too. The reason for extraction of this lower back teeth is to prevent any more irritation. I presumed it was due to the irritation of the lower tooth that caused the recurrence but this was a hypothesis. If this was correct, then the dog would not have another growth two months later and this procedure would save the young lady a lot of veterinary expenses.

"I feel the base for roughness to see if any tumour is left behind" I explained to my assistant Mr Saw. Complete excision of the lesion was done but I can't guarantee that it would be 100% as there was the cheek tissue

I sent the pieces for histopathology.

Pathology results:

Diagnosis:
Spindle and epithelioid cell proliferation.

Comments: The cells may be myofibroblastic/fibroblastic in origin. The differential diagnoses include nodular fasciitis, inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour or a low grade sarcoma, amongst others.


CONCLUSION
Dogs and people with poor oral hygiene (gum diseases,decayed teeth, bad breath) do develop oral tumours when they are old as many years of irritation leads to tumour formation. In this case, the lab report suggests a tumour which may not be malignant.