This rather bouncy Doberman was referred for advanced diagnostic imaging of the hock joint (ankle) as he had developed a non-weight bearing lameness over the preceding week. We sedated the patient and this 3-dimesional CT image was created of the patient’s lower limb. Straight away it was evident that the bottom of this patient’s tibia (shin bone) looked abnormal; there was evidence of both new bone formation and bone being eaten away. These changes are sadly often linked to bone tumours and further tests confirmed the patient was suffering from osteosarcoma; a type of aggressive bone tumour.
When a tumour is identified it is important to ascertain whether the tumour has metastasised from the bone to areas such as the chest and abdomen. A CT scan of this patient’s chest and abdomen were thankfully free from signs of tumour spread. The patient began an aggressive course of chemotherapy coupled with limb salvage surgery which aims to remove the cancerous bone and replace it with a custom designed metal spacer. The patient will be monitored for signs of cancer for the rest of its life but hopefully will be able to live out the rest of its life happy and able to run around on four legs.