Introduction
- Malignant tumor arising from blood vessel endothelium.
Diagnosis
Clinical signs
- Splenic form - abdominal splenic mass.
- Skin form - soft, poorly circumscribed infiltrating mass in skin or subcutis.
- Cardiac form - arising from right atrium
.
- May see multiple masses due to metastasis.
Diagnosis
Differential diagnosis
- Abdominal mass - kidney tumor , liver tumor , mesenteric lymph node, other splenic tumor.
- Coagulopathies .
- Benign idiopathic pericardial effusion if cardiac tamponade is present and no right atrial mass is seen with echocardiography.
Sequelae
Prognosis
- Skin form - 10-60% metastasize, depending on depth of skin/subcutaneous invasion. For surgery alone, mean survival is 780 days for dermal, 172 days for hypodermal, and 307 days for deep.
- Cardiac, splenic - more than 95% metastasize. Median survival for surgery alone is 19-83 days. For splenectomy and chemotherapy, median survival is 6 months.
- Hemangioma - excellent.
Reasons for treatment failure
- Metastatic disease.
- Local recurrence.
Sources
Publications
Refereed papers
- Recent references from PubMed.
- Chun R (1999) Feline and canine hemangiosarcoma. Comp Cont Ed 21.
- Edwards N J (1996) The diagnostic value of pericardial fluid pH determination. JAAHA 32 , 63-67.
- Ogilvie G K et al(1996) Surgery and doxorubicin in dogs with hemangiosarcoma. J Vet Intern Med 10 , 379-384.
- Ward H et al(1994) Cutaneous hemangiosarcoma in 25 dogs - a retrospective study. J Vet Intern Med 8 , 345-348.
- Sorenmo K U, Jeglum K A & Helfand S C (1993) Chemotherapy of canine hemangiosarcoma with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide. J Vet Intern Med 7 , 370-376.
- Hammer A S et al(1991) Hemostatic abnormalities in dogs with hemangiosarcoma. J Vet Intern Med 5 , 11-14.
- Hargis A M & Fledman B F (1991) Evaluation of hemostatic defects secondary to vascular tumors in dogs - 11 cases (1983-1988). JAVMA 198 , 891-894.
- Aronsohm M (1985) Cardiac hemangiosarcoma in the dog - a review of 38 cases. JAVMA 187 (9), 922-926.
