Introduction

Most pet owners will eventually find a lump somewhere on their dog’s body. The lump may be something as simple as a pimple or an allergic reaction to an insect bite. On the other hand, sometimes skin masses are much more serious. Wise owners will have their dogs examined by a veterinarian to assess the significance of any skin bumps that they detect.

How Skin Tumors are Diagnosed

One of the most common procedures used to identify the makeup of a skin tumor is a fine needle aspirate. During this procedure, the veterinarian or her assistant will gently insert a needle into the mass, pull back on the stopper of the syringe and then squirt the extracted fluid and cells onto a glass slide for examination under a microscope. This is a quick and easy way to diagnose many skin tumors, especially fatty tumors called lipomas. A somewhat more complicated technique is to perform a biopsy. This involves surgically removing a piece of the mass and tissue surrounding it using a scalpel, local anesthetic and sedation. The pathology laboratory often can make a more definitive diagnosis from a biopsy tissue sample than from cells removed by fine needle aspiration. Another useful diagnostic tool is an impression smear. This simple procedure involves pressing a glass slide onto the surface of the mass and then examining the transferred cells under the microscope. A skilled veterinarian can identify many types of tumors from microscopic assessment of cells by these various methods.

Sometimes, however, the attending veterinarian will elect to surgically remove a mass rather than sampling only a piece of it. There are pros and cons to using this as a diagnostic approach, which the veterinarian can discuss with the owner. When removing a mass suspected of possibly being malignant, the surgeon attempts to remove the entire lump and a fairly wide margin of normal, non-cancerous tissue completely surrounding it. The sample is submitted to a pathology laboratory for microscopic analysis and determination of the precise cellular composition of the tumor. Of course, it is not always possible to remove the tumor and enough nearby tissue to be sure that all cancerous cells have been removed. This is especially true of masses on the face and lower limbs, where the often is not enough room around the tumor to get the wide margins that veterinary surgeons hope for.

Special Notes

It is important for the medical team to know exactly what type of mass they are dealing with, so that they can come up with the best management and treatment protocol for their patient. These diagnostic tools are usually quite successful in identifying the composition of the tumor.