Surgical management of urethral obstruction secondary to perineal liposarcoma in a dog: a case report

Abstract

Background Swelling of the perineal region in male dogs is most commonly caused by a perineal hernia. Clinical signs associated with perineal hernia are constipation, tenesmus or stranguria. This case report documents a rare cause of perineal swelling created by the growth of a malignant tumour leading to urethral obstruction and subsequent stranguria. Case presentation An 11-year-old neutered male German Shepherd was presented for swelling in the perineal region and stranguria for three days. Complete blood count and serum biochemistry were unremarkable. Ultrasound revealed a heterogeneous mass in the perineal region. Retrograde urethrography showed a severe narrowing of the urethra caudal to the pelvis. A fine-needle aspirate of the mass was highly suspicious for liposarcoma. Staging was performed by computed tomography (CT) of the thorax and abdomen. Total penile amputation in combination with pubic-ischial pelvic osteotomy, transposition of the remaining urethra through the inguinal canal, V-Y-plasty cranial to the prepuce and preputial urethrostomy were performed to remove the tumour. Histopathology confirmed a well-differentiated liposarcoma with complete histological margins. Six months after the surgery the dog was doing well and there were no signs indicating local tumour recurrence. Conclusions Wide surgical excision is generally recommended for soft tissue sarcomas, however this is sometimes not feasible for large tumours. In the case reported here, tumour resection was achieved by a combination of several surgical techniques with a good clinical outcome.