Quote Originally Posted by robinh
What does anyone know about it? My Carly just had a small tumor taken off her leg last week and it was diagnosed as a Mast Cell Tumor. I'm doing some research now.

Thanks.

Robin
Surgery is the first and best option. If the pathology report indicates good clean margins then the prognosis is good. If the margins are questionable, follow up radiation can be used at the site to clean up the margins.

Here's a link that dives into some details.

In depth MCT discussion

One of the questions you can ask the Vet is whether the cytology shows well differeniated cells. A well differeniated cancer cell (of any type) sort of knows what it wants to do in life. An undiffereniated one mutates randomly and has a higher potential for metastasis. If the cells were well differeniated then that's a positive sign.

Most of the problems with mast cell is that it's not always caught early. The owner and/or Vet pass off the growth as something else, and then it spreads. As others are relating if caught early, surgery will usually get rid of it.

Once MCT spreads Chemo yields poor results in Stage IV. There have been good results in Stage II/III post surgery with Vinblastine+ Prednisone Chemotherapy. Also Lomustine has been used when it has spread to the GI tract- with a poorer outcome. Best treatment to make the dog feel better after metastasis has occured is anti-histamines, as even cancerous mast cells will remain true to their nature and release large amounts of histamine. Also given the combination of histamine release and Prednisone acid blockers would come into play.

But again hopefully you caught it early and with surgery and clean margins you are in the clear.