AandK
Well-Known Member
Good afternoon,
Just posting my experience so far, as there does not seem to be much info out there on haemangiosarcoma in horses, as it is quite rare (more common in dogs).
About a month ago, I noticed a bloody discharge from my horse's left eye. Upon first inspection, I could see a small area on the third eyelid that looked like a trauma of some kind, e.g. horse had caught himself in the eye with a twig/branch. When it did not show any signs of healing after a few days I got the vet to have a look. His eye was nerve blocked/frozen so a thorough investigation could be done, vet suggested it was either a trauma or a squamous cell carcinoma, there were no foreign bodies in the eye. They needed to get hold of a special dye to find out if it was the SCC, and in the meanwhile gave me some medicated ointment for his eye. Approx 1 week later, vet came back out with the dye and this did take up slighly so it was decided to involve an eye specialist and get him booked in for removal of the third eyelid. Unfortunately this happened a week later than planned due to the eye specialist being called to an emergency. He went in Thurs last week, with the plan to remove the third eyelid, and that would be the end of that. When the eye specialist vet examined his eye/eyelid, the mass went further down the third eyelid than expected (it has been growing since first spotted), and the bloody discharge was unusual for an SCC, so a biopsy was taken to find out exactly what it was. Best case was melanoma and removal of the third eyelid as planned, worst case it was something malignant and they would have to remove the whole eye.
Eye vets called Monday afternoon to book horse in to the horsepital for whatever needed to be done on Wednesday afternoon (yesterday), as results weren't in yet but they wanted to act quick on whatever it was. The results came in just in time yesterday morning and unfortunately it was a haemangiosarcoma, a cancer of the blood vessels which is usually locally malignant. This meant they would have to remove the eye globe as well as the tumour, so this is what happened yesterday afternoon. I spoke to the eye vet once they had finished the op, and it all went well. He said removal of the eye was the right thing to do, as they would not have been able to get all the tumour out without removing the eye as well. He said they were able to get all of the tumour out with what they believed were good margins. The tissue has been sent off for analysis to check if they have got it all, and also what grade it is, as it could be the sort that is elsewhere in the body. There aren't enough case studies in horses for them to say what the chances of it being this type, but did say it was unlikely. I will get the results in a week or two.
With regards to the eye removal, we picked my boy up at lunchtime today and he is coping so well so far. He loaded and unloaded with no fuss, and walked into his stable with no issues. He was happy to be home and just got on with eating his hay. It will probably be more of an adjustment for me than him, just have to remember to do everything on the right, and talk to him so he knows that I am on his blind side. My poor boy, but at least he is still here. Just have to hope the results from the lab are good, as if it is elsewhere, there is not much they can do.
Would be interested to hear if anyone else has any experience of this in horses? I will update this once the results come in so it may be of help if someone else goes through the same.
Just posting my experience so far, as there does not seem to be much info out there on haemangiosarcoma in horses, as it is quite rare (more common in dogs).
About a month ago, I noticed a bloody discharge from my horse's left eye. Upon first inspection, I could see a small area on the third eyelid that looked like a trauma of some kind, e.g. horse had caught himself in the eye with a twig/branch. When it did not show any signs of healing after a few days I got the vet to have a look. His eye was nerve blocked/frozen so a thorough investigation could be done, vet suggested it was either a trauma or a squamous cell carcinoma, there were no foreign bodies in the eye. They needed to get hold of a special dye to find out if it was the SCC, and in the meanwhile gave me some medicated ointment for his eye. Approx 1 week later, vet came back out with the dye and this did take up slighly so it was decided to involve an eye specialist and get him booked in for removal of the third eyelid. Unfortunately this happened a week later than planned due to the eye specialist being called to an emergency. He went in Thurs last week, with the plan to remove the third eyelid, and that would be the end of that. When the eye specialist vet examined his eye/eyelid, the mass went further down the third eyelid than expected (it has been growing since first spotted), and the bloody discharge was unusual for an SCC, so a biopsy was taken to find out exactly what it was. Best case was melanoma and removal of the third eyelid as planned, worst case it was something malignant and they would have to remove the whole eye.
Eye vets called Monday afternoon to book horse in to the horsepital for whatever needed to be done on Wednesday afternoon (yesterday), as results weren't in yet but they wanted to act quick on whatever it was. The results came in just in time yesterday morning and unfortunately it was a haemangiosarcoma, a cancer of the blood vessels which is usually locally malignant. This meant they would have to remove the eye globe as well as the tumour, so this is what happened yesterday afternoon. I spoke to the eye vet once they had finished the op, and it all went well. He said removal of the eye was the right thing to do, as they would not have been able to get all the tumour out without removing the eye as well. He said they were able to get all of the tumour out with what they believed were good margins. The tissue has been sent off for analysis to check if they have got it all, and also what grade it is, as it could be the sort that is elsewhere in the body. There aren't enough case studies in horses for them to say what the chances of it being this type, but did say it was unlikely. I will get the results in a week or two.
With regards to the eye removal, we picked my boy up at lunchtime today and he is coping so well so far. He loaded and unloaded with no fuss, and walked into his stable with no issues. He was happy to be home and just got on with eating his hay. It will probably be more of an adjustment for me than him, just have to remember to do everything on the right, and talk to him so he knows that I am on his blind side. My poor boy, but at least he is still here. Just have to hope the results from the lab are good, as if it is elsewhere, there is not much they can do.
Would be interested to hear if anyone else has any experience of this in horses? I will update this once the results come in so it may be of help if someone else goes through the same.
