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💯 Belle’s family did the right thing. They noticed she was limping and quickly took her to the vet for X-rays.
😊They also thankfully got her pet insurance as a puppy.
🦴 Remember that if you have a large or giant breed dog with lameness and swelling on a limb, take your dog to a vet for X-rays as soon as possible because they are at increased risk for osteosarcoma. Early diagnosis is so important!
☢️ Like Belle’s veterinarian, your vet will take X-rays which often confirm the suspicion for osteosarcoma, the most common primary bone cancer.
👩⚕️Today, when I met sweet Belle, I ran blood work, did 3 view chest X-rays to check for metastasis spread, and got new limb X-rays to double check about whether she is a candidate for limb spare surgery.
🦴 Her tumor is in a location (distal radius) where we can consider limb-spare surgery instead of amputation. And the awesome surgeon where I work at does them. Then we follow surgery with chemotherapy with me.
�🔹There are lots of options for osteosarcoma so check out
🦴all my Facebook posts this month on osteosarcoma
🦴 my YouTube Vlogs on amputation and new vlogs coming out this week and next on osteosarcoma - subscribe so you don’t miss them
🦴 and please join my Live Q&A on Facebook Wednesday at 9 pm EST
@ VCA Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center📅 last week there were
✈️ 4 flights
👩🏫 2 conferences
🌆 2 cities
👨👩👦👦 With a trip back home in between to see my sons’ spring concert
🌎5000 miles flown
🎤14 talks given
🤝 I met 100s of new colleagues and saw my speaker friends (who are my family in the road)
😊 And hopefully inspired some vet professionals to #whywaitaspirate and #kickcancersbutt
👩⚕️ This week I am back to clinics to see my patients and hopefully kick cancers butt myself 💙
@ Tampa Convention Center🔹Osteosarcoma Spotlight: Diagnostics 🔹
🔬Cytology, or looking at the cells aspirated from a tumor, can be one of the diagnostic tests used for a pet with suspected osteosarcoma. It is not as definitive as some of the more invasive tests, but a few cells from a fine needle aspirate can be enough for veterinarians and cancer specialists to help distinguish malignant vs non-malignant tumors.
🔬The accuracy rate for obtaining an osteosarcoma diagnosis on cytology is about 70-85%, but other tests may be needed to confirm.
#whywaitaspirate