horse with cancer

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cellie

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A good friend on our yard has a lovely 5 year old that has been diagnosed with cancer.They are treating his eye and sheath area.The eye area is having a course of injections and the sheath is having a topical cream that burns away infected cells.Does anyone have any experience of cancer in horses that I could pass on.
 
Is it sarcoids Cellie? They are a type of cancer. If so, it might be Liverpool cream they are using. Its very toxic so they can't use it round the eye. Some horses make good recoveries from sarcoids. If you Google sarcoids and look for the article by Professor Derek Knottenbelt of Liverpool University it contains pretty much everything you could ever want to know. If its not sarcoids sorry I have no experience though I wouldn't be too happy to have that diagnosis. Good luck to your friend and her horse. x
 
Hi

Very briefly - My friends horse was diagonsed with cancer of the nose approx 5-6 years ago! Firstly they thought it was a sarcoid and tried to burn it off. He actually in the end went to liverpool to Mr Knottenbelt (who is a fantastic guy) who inserted radioactive rods?? in his nose to try and get rid of the cancer! It didn't completely get rid of the cancer and later had to use the "burning cream". If it offers your friend any hope I actually took my friends horse hunting 3 year ago - so treatment can at least offer some help even if it's not a complete cure, but I'm sure in some cases it can be.

I hope treatment goes well - good luck to your friend! stay positive! x x
 
Sorry to hear about your friend's horse. Hope all goes well with the treatment.

I was just wondering what the symptoms with the sheath are?
 
Thanks For the info I will speak to her tonight and give her the site details.The cream is very toxic she musnt touch it at all trouble is we dont know whats going on inside I would just like to give her something positive .The vet has never mentioned sacroids we have been seeing him together as my horse is on box rest and I havent heard him label the cancer.Her other horse is a laminitic and she has nearly lost him twice .She could do with some good news.
 
Could also be squamous cell carcinoma. These often occur on the third eyelid and also the cornea of horses with pinky eyes. They are also found on the sheath because smegma is a carcinogen. Although, by your description of the treatment sounds more like sarcoids.

Sarcoids don't metastasise, but it's best to treat them at an early stage because they can become a problem. If a horse has had sarcoids then there is a good chance they will get them again. Periocular sarcoids are difficult to treat because many of the common treatments are too irritant to use near the eye. They can be injected with various agents that are toxic to cells, or BCG can be used, which stimulates the horses own immune system to attack the tumour, and is quite a successful treatment (around 70% cure) although repeated injections are needed to acheive this. If that fails then using radioactive wires is an option, but is costly.

The key with sarcoids is to keep on top of them because if they become very extensive they can be terribly difficult to treat. On the other hand, there is a slim chance that once these resolve the horse will never get another - they are v unpredictable!
 
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