Dog ear tumor: Was removal necessary after mast cell suspicion?

Question

The vet tested a tumor on my dogs inner ear and said it has mast cells in it. After removal of ear and testing to see if the cancer has spread she sent the tumor in and it came back it is a histiocytoma tumor. Was the removal of the ear necessary? Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Male | neutered | 121 lbs

Anna M., DVM · Accepted Answer

Hello, and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. A needle aspirate is the standard way to get an initial "suspected" diagnosis on a lump, but there are limitations to what a needle sample can tell us. If the cells in the needle sample appear worrisome, then the next diagnostic step is to send in a biopsy (surgical "chunk") of the tumor, or to remove the tumor itself and send the whole thing in to the lab for analysis. So, was removal of the ear necessary? I can't say, I don't know enough about the location or size of the mass. I didn't see the slide from the initial needle aspirate. But if the needle aspirate looked worrisome, and the next step is to remove the tumor or cut a piece of the tumor off, then removing that piece of the ear may have been the only way to find out for sure what the tumor was, and whether surgical removal was curative. Rather than regretting in hindsight that the surgery was done because the histopathology report came back as a histiocytoma, I would be focusing on the good news that Tate doesn't have a malignant mast cell tumor. And removal and lab analysis of the tumor was the only way you could have gotten that news. Hope this helps!

Dog ear tumor: Was removal necessary after mast cell suspicion?

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