# Infiltrative Lipomas



## KathyL (Jul 6, 2011)

Has anyone had any experience with infilitrative lipomas. I have a 7 year old golden who had a CT scan followed by surgery for a tumor on his front leg. Surgeon said it had clean margins for removal and biopsies came back as no evidence of being infiltrative. I was happy and optimistic but now one year later tumor is back again in same place. Local veterinary school leaned toward amputation and radiation.


----------



## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I have no advice, bumping this up to see if anyone here can help


----------



## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

I have to look this up, bc to me "lipoma" means sigh of relief(?). Is this cancer? I thought lipomas were benign fatty tumors? I'd love more info.


----------



## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

I've only seen one suspected infiltrative lipoma. And it's a current case (just had the biopsy a couple of weeks ago) so I don't know the final outcome. At this stage, I suspect we will watch and wait (it isn't my case, so I don't know what the owner was told).

For those that don't know what an infiltrative lipoma is: It is similar to a "regular" lipoma in that it's often benign, but unlike a regular lipoma, it's not encapsulated. The fatty cells are mixed throughout normal tissue so it is impossible to remove the whole tumor without taking out massive amounts of tissue. Plus infiltrative lipomas can be quite aggressive even though they are often not malignant. These tumors can get quite large and cause problems with mobility, pain, etc. This is why amputation might be recommended if the tumor is on a limb.


----------



## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

This scares me  How often do these types of lipomas show up on other parts of the body, like the torso? 

Daisy has one that is quite large. Vet has examined it several times, it's been there for a few years, no growth, but it's as large as the spread of my hand. On her upper side.


----------



## DaisyGolden (Jan 4, 2008)

Jo Ellen said:


> This scares me  How often do these types of lipomas show up on other parts of the body, like the torso?
> 
> Daisy has one that is quite large. Vet has examined it several times, it's been there for a few years, no growth, but it's as large as the spread of my hand. On her upper side.


My Jenny also has a large lipoma on her chest it has grown some but the vet said unless it was bothering her we shouldn't risk a surgery with her being 10 years old. She has had it for three years. It scares me too. I also read that you should feed a lower fat dog food to dogs with lipoms to help keep them from growing.


----------



## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

Jo Ellen said:


> This scares me  How often do these types of lipomas show up on other parts of the body, like the torso?
> 
> Daisy has one that is quite large. Vet has examined it several times, it's been there for a few years, no growth, but it's as large as the spread of my hand. On her upper side.


I've seen hundreds and hundreds of "regular" lipomas and only this one infiltrative one, so they are not common at all. I don't have any idea how often they pop up in specific areas.


----------



## KathyL (Jul 6, 2011)

*Infiltrative Lipoma*

Thank you to everyone who responded to my request for information on infiltrative lipomas. I have also experienced "normal" lipomas on other goldens and this is definitely different - - you will know that by the feel of the tissue. Harley's forearm is extremely hard because the lipoma is under the muscle.


----------



## KathyL (Jul 6, 2011)

*Infiltrative Lipoma*

Hi, I had submitted the original question on infiltrative lipomas and since you mentioned you had just seen this I was wondering what the outcome had been. Rignt now I am deciding between having the surgery again (the tumor would be back in about 6 months) or have the limb amputated. Any additional information you can provide on the results of the case you referred to or any experience you might have had with front imb amputations would be appreciated. thank you.
QUOTE=IowaGold;1478632]I've only seen one suspected infiltrative lipoma. And it's a current case (just had the biopsy a couple of weeks ago) so I don't know the final outcome. At this stage, I suspect we will watch and wait (it isn't my case, so I don't know what the owner was told).

For those that don't know what an infiltrative lipoma is: It is similar to a "regular" lipoma in that it's often benign, but unlike a regular lipoma, it's not encapsulated. The fatty cells are mixed throughout normal tissue so it is impossible to remove the whole tumor without taking out massive amounts of tissue. Plus infiltrative lipomas can be quite aggressive even though they are often not malignant. These tumors can get quite large and cause problems with mobility, pain, etc. This is why amputation might be recommended if the tumor is on a limb.[/QUOTE]


----------



## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

KathyL said:


> Hi, I had submitted the original question on infiltrative lipomas and since you mentioned you had just seen this I was wondering what the outcome had been. Rignt now I am deciding between having the surgery again (the tumor would be back in about 6 months) or have the limb amputated. Any additional information you can provide on the results of the case you referred to or any experience you might have had with front imb amputations would be appreciated. thank you.


I'll try to remember to find the file and see what the path report said. I don't know as the dog has been back in since she had her stitches out.


----------



## KathyL (Jul 6, 2011)

Thank you.


----------



## Darbymum (Oct 24, 2013)

This is some years after the original question but I have just found this forum. We had the experience of dealing with this awful diagnosis. Its a long story and I won't get into the details of the "lead up" years to the diagnosis but suffice to say these growths are difficult to diagnose. In 2008 at 4.5 yrs old our Golden, Darby, was referred to the University of Guelph, O.V.C. We soon learned that what we presumed to be 1 large (by that point) facial mass was actually 2 different growths. Apparently it is not uncommon for malignant tumours to piggy back on benign tumours so a CT scan was ordered and it was found that both tumours were benign the upper tumour was a relatively straightforward "fix" with surgery but the large pillow-y mass below was an infiltrative lipoma attached to the jaw muscles and with fibres already heading down the throat. With no action taken by us, he would not be able to open or close his mouth within weeks and a few months after that he would lose the ability to swallow as these tumours infiltrate muscle primarily. Surgery alone would likely result in a return of the tumour. Radiation therapy was a good option but drastic. We were told that a study of 13 dogs in the US showed an average life span of 40 mo. following that treatment. We opted for radiation with intent to cure...18 doses. I learned that these lipomas if present, are usually found in animals older than 10 yr. Facial radiation is brutal to see but he was kept comfortable with medications and survived it fine. His left eye was burned by the radiation and they told us he would need cataract surgery about 1 yr later (which he did). He is now +9 yrs old and is silly and healthy and to our knowledge the infiltrative lipoma has not returned. He has vision in both eyes and has 5 eye medications for his left eye that we give him throughout the day, due to damage to the tear duct, etc. The radiation therapy resulted in the loss of all fur from the top of the left side of his head right down to the base of his neck but some of it did eventually grow back ( almost white) except for the area from the top of his eye to his upper lip --all on the left side. There was a 5% risk that the radiation would damage brain cells but it would not be apparent for up to 5 years from the time of the treatment. To date we are seeing no sign of that and our fingers are crossed.
It has not been an easy road and it is an expensive proposition that will continue for the rest of his life...but he did live and he is happy. When he was 5.5 yr old he became a canine blood donor which he did until he was 7.5 and he was able to pay it forward and helped save the lives of other dogs. He's been a therapy dog since he was 1 yr old and despite the drastic change in his appearance (the bare skin on the left side of his face and eye has turned from pink to black from sunlight) not one of the residents at the nursing home has ever noticed. So if you are faced with this diagnosis think about it carefully, consider the options available to you and do what is right for you and for your dog. It can be a rough road.


----------



## KathyL (Jul 6, 2011)

Wow, I was surprised just now to see this post. Harley had a CT Scan in the summer of 2010 which showed clean margins and had surgery to remove the tumor. Pathology said benign lipoma. Everything looked promising but in spring 2011 it was back. So this time an MRI showed it was more invasive. Surgery again and pathology came back as an infiltrative lipoma, but still benign. I knew it would be back and I said when it came back I would then go with amputation. Spring 2012 I met with surgeon and she said he would do well as a tripawd and surgery was scheduled for the Tuesday after Memorial Day. I dropped him off for his surgery and a few hours later I received a call and when they did a routine chest xray they found two masses in his chest and the surgery was aborted. Since the tumor in the leg was benign the question now was where did the lung tumors come from? He had an abdominal ultrasound which was good. A small spot on the spleen but nothing that caused metastasis to the lungs. Then, one of the lungs was aspirated and cancer was confirmed but the sample was too small to narrow down type of cancer. All this time he was an active "healthy" and happy dog. He had about three months of metronomic chemo and did so well that the oncologist suggested surgery to remove the tumor on his leg to improve his quality of life. He went through that surgery in October 2012 and again pathology came back as infiltrative lipoma and benign. He was back to his old self in two weeks. We were ready to begin more metronomic chemo but his bloodwork showed his platelet count was down to 40,000. More tests and he was put on high dose prednisone and azathioprine. Unfortunately, the meds did more harm than good and I helped him to the Bridge early January 2013.

There is very little information out there on infiltrative lipomas. They are extremely invasive. I'm happy to hear that your dog is doing well following the radiation.


----------



## Darbymum (Oct 24, 2013)

KathyL, I'm so sorry to hear that Harley went through so much but you certainly did all you could to help him. When I made my earlier post I had hoped you had found answers for your own situation but it seemed like few people could help you out at the time so I wanted to add info, for the record, as so little exists on the internet. I wanted to let people know that just because these growths are labelled benign they are very dangerous and time is of the essence in dealing with them. As I mentioned in my first post, we were referred to the University of Guelph, Ontario Veterinary College, our province's Vet. teaching Hospital. Amazingly we are only about 10 mi away from them. Following the initial CT scan they shared Darby's scans and info with the University of Saskatchewan Vet College and the heads of various Depts. at both the hospitals of universities then had a conference call to determine how this thing could be dealt with. He was treated by the Oncology Dept. Despite being "benign" they refer to infiltrative lipomas as malignant. Someone told me the TV series "House" did an episode on these (humans can get them too). I'm still trying to find out which one. If it was a mystery ailment for "House" you know it is obscure!
Five years after first hearing of Infiltrative Lipoma's I'm amazed that there is still so little information available. I know the teaching hospitals that helped us with Darby were honoured and excited to have his case to work on as I gather few Vet's will see even one case in their career. KathyL, you fought the good fight and you can be sure Harley knew it...take care.


----------

