CASE HISTORIES
CASE
HISTORY 3 - Horse with Sarcoids
Acorn is a 7 year old bay mare, Irish Draught/Thoroughbred bred for
eventing. She had been given to the present owners as she failed the vet
due to the amount sarcoids. Acorn had in excess of 30 sarcoids starting
from her chest and along her stomach line and in between the back legs.
She had done well in eventing but her value had diminished due to the
amount of sarcoids.
Acorn's mother had to be put down due to the amount of sarcoids she had.
The equine sarcoid is probably the most common skin tumour in horses.
There are six forms of the disease, they have a high propensity for recurrence
and become more aggressive if subject to accidental interference.
The disease affects
all breeds of horse, mule, donkey and zebra. There is some evidence that
the thinner-skinned breeds such as the Arabian horse have a particular
tendency towards the condition. There is known to be a genetic basis for
the disease but mares with this condition should not be used for breeding
purposes.
Sarcoids commonly multiply on the individual horse; sometimes very rapidly
while others remain static for years. A few individuals show spontaneous
full and permanent self-cure and this usually means that the horse will
not develop further lesions.
For many years researchers have been trying to find a cause for the disease
and are still some way from a definitive answer. The distribution of lesions
strongly suggest that flies are significant but how the fly and the virus
are linked is another matter yet to be established.
Sarcoids are best regarded as a form of skin cancer, although this may not be strictly true in pathological terms, it does at least suggest that the behaviour of the tumour is unpredictable and that treatment may be problematical. It is however clear that it is not a wart.
There are six distinct
different types of sarcoid and it is important to recognise that the less
severe forms can rapidly progress to the more aggressive types particularly
if they are traumatised.
1) Occult sarcoid
2) Verrucous (warty) sarcoid
3) Nodular sarcoid
4) Fibroblastic sarciod
5) Mixed (verrucous, Nodular and Fibroblastic) sarcoid
6) Malevolent sarcoid
Most vets are understandably
reluctant to interfere with a sarcoid. Treatment should follow as soon
after a vet has made the diagnosis as possible. The prognosis is always
very guarded and owners should be aware of the possible serious complications,
which can arise both from the disease itself and from the treatment.
Owners must be aware of the limitations, cost and likely/possible outcome
of the various treatment options. Treatment must remove every single abnormal
cell - leaving even one abnormal cell behind will inevitably result in
return of the tumour.
Many treatment methods have been used with varying success, such as: Ligation,
Surgical exision, Cryosurgery, Laser surgery, Cytotoxic compounds, Vaccines
and Radiation.
Sarcoids do not spread
to internal organs and so affected horses may be perfectly normal in every
other respect. However, it is clear that animals can be affected in less
obvious ways; horses with few or large numbers of lesions have improved
dramatically in their behaviour and performance when the lesions have
been successfully treated.
This implies that there may be factors associated with the condition that
do indeed affect the function of other organs. As the cells do not spread
into the major organs it is assumed that there are chemical products that
get access to the circulation and that these may sometimes have metabolic
consequences.
Acorn had in excess of 30 sarcoids along her stomach, between the hind legs and one large sarcoid on the front of her chest which was weeping with puss. The sarcoids between her hind legs were the largest and most dangerous as these sarcoids would affect her ability to work in an outline and would start to bleed.
There are three sarcoids
on the off hind that are situated across a large vein and the larger of
the three is a fibroblastic sarcoid and looks like an angle-berry.
On testing her mane and weaknesses were found in the following organs:
Stress, Liver, Kidney, Pituitary Gland.
A kinesiology test
was done using a sample of mane and the oils selected were: Carrot Seed,
White Seaweed, Bergamot, Lavender and Tea Tree.
These oils were well diluted in Carrot Macerated base oil and an aloe
vera gel was also made up to place directly onto the sarcoids.
After 10 days four
of the sarcoids had dropped off. The large sarcoid on the front of her
chest had diminished, it had broken up but there was still some puss coming
out. The sarcoids between the hind legs looked better and less angry than
at the start.
Acorn was still interested in her oils with the exception of Tea Tree,
she was inhaling them and licking them off the hand. After another 10
days, many more had dropped off. The tissue underneath the sarcoids that
had dropped off looked very healthy.
There was still a small amount of puss coming out of the chest sarcoid
but this could have been due to rugs rubbing. About half of the sarcoids
were left but they were all reducing in size.
A re-test was done with new mane and blackcurrant bud replaced the seaweed. Acorn was no longer interested in her oils and there were still 5 sarcoids remaining. One large sarcoid was about to drop off so it was recommended that they continue with the gel and to give her time off from inhaling the oils.
The fibroblastic sarcoid had dropped off. A clay was made up replacing the gel which helped to keep the flies at bay. The chest sarcoid was drying up with the clay. Four months from the start of the treatment Acorn was clear of sarcoids. The owners were very pleased with the results.