Clinical Equine Oncology

Equine Sarcoid

“…The principle of smart surgery should be applied to minimize cell contamination during surgery. Protecting the tumor with adhesive dressings before surgery reduces contamination and in case of recurrence another therapeutic method or combined treatments are indicated [3,55]. Occult and verrucose sarcoids can be effectively removed with wide margins, nodules in the eyelids are invasive thus very dangerous, whereas other nodular lesions may respond better.…”

“…This clinical classification is important because different types require different therapeutic approaches and have differing prognoses. One subject may carry more than one type of sarcoid and commonly, though unpredictably, milder forms can progress to more severe types [52,54,55].…”

“…The clinical presentation of sarcoid lesions and their features are usually clearly recognizable, especially if multiple tumors of different types are present on the same horse. The confirmation of the diagnosis is not always straightforward and possible differential diagnoses and concurrent conditions should be considered [55,56].…”

“…If possible, a total excisional biopsy is preferable, the owner should be carefully advised about the implicit risks and a proper therapeutic plan should be prepared when taking the biopsy to avoid any exacerbation triggered by the procedure. If benign neglect is the plan, the opportunity of taking a biopsy should be carefully evaluated [2,55].…”

“…Clinicians should opt for benign neglect with caution, both patient welfare and the lesions should be strictly monitored as sarcoids can progress. Furthermore, their presence may contribute to spread to other sites and horses [3,55].…”