Conference noted::equitation

    Hello Louisa,
    
    My horse had a bout with sarcoids for about 4 years. They would show up
    in the saddle area on his back, right under where the rider's weight
    goes. Each time he'd get them, I'd wait until they bothered him, call
    the vet and have them injected with prednisone. I'd have to not ride
    him for a few days due to tenderness in the area so I long-lined him or
    rode bareback and usually within a week they'd go away. For that 4 year
    period, they did come back about twice a year, but finally (so far)
    we've one. My horse hasn't had them in 5 years.
    
    GOod luck, let us know which treatment works for you...
    
    -Linda

    
    Update on my Sarcoid horse.
    
    The Sarcoid on his chest was growing and changing shapes, so I decided
    to have it removed and biopsy it to be 100% sure it was a sacroid.  The
    results came back Sarcoid, there are 2 types of Sarcoid - there is
    flat and cauliflouwer - he had both on this chest.
    
    The minor surgary went well, the vet did hit a bleeder and Sultan was
    very well behaived.  3 days after the surgary the Sarcoid on his face
    fell off!  The vet thinks that we hit the "mother" Sarcoid and closed
    off the bleeder (which was feeding the tumor - take away the food and
    the turmor dies)
    
    Sarcoids can grow back and grow back bigger and much uglier... so Sultan
    is now getting 12 shots of a cancer drung to help prevent them from
    reappearing.  He had 1 round last week and he will have another round
    in a month.
    
    I just hope they stay away.
    
    Louisa

    Louisa,
    
    I just read an article in The Chronicle of the Horse about sarcoids.
    I don't remember too much of the details but it said there are several
    different kinds of treatment(surgery, freezing, and 2 others that I
    can't think of right now). It did say that success is variable and that
    there is no treatment that is the absolute best for all cases. They
    said different vets will try different treatments first depending on
    their own experience with the various treatments. 
    
    I think they said that the success rate is about 60% so there's a
    decent chance Sultan will stay clean of them now. I can look up the
    details if we haven't recycled the issue yet....

    I finally found that article about sarcoids. It was in the July 14th
    1995 issue of the Chronicle of the Horse. It says:
    
    	Sarcoids are the most common kind of tumors occurring in horses.
    	They are not malignant.
    
    	Sarcoids may look like falt scaly warts or a protruding mass that
    looks like proud-flesh. Size can range from pea sized to baseball size.
    Sometimes, you'll see both types mixed together. The warty looking ones
    rarely get bigger than 2".
    
    	Sarcoids seem to have a bacterial part that act in symbiosis and
    keep the sarcoid going. Sarcoids are often found on the head especially
    near the ears. They're also found on the body and legs, especially
    where there has been an skin injury(cut, bruise, scrapes, etc)
    
    It is unknown whether sarcoids are spread by contact or viral invasion
    but they do seem to be contagious. Can be hard to eliminate them.
    Sometimes treatment actually increase growth.
    
    Most experts say that unless the sarcoid is causing a problem and isn't
    growing, leave it alone. They say this is especially true for the flat
    hairless type that may stay quiet for years.
    
    Possible treatments are:
    	1. surgery to remove it
    	2. Cryosurgery(freezing it),
    	3. Hyperthermia(heating it up)
    	4. immunotherapy
    	5. skin ointments
    
    Surgical removal is hard because the sarcoid often has branches.
    Because of the bacterial complications, the sarcoids have to be
    considered "contaminated" lesions. This means that the sarcoid has to
    be cut out below skin level and flushed with iodine before it's
    stitched up. Sugery is only considered for quiet or slow growing sarcoids 
    because it often increases the growth rate otherwise. 
    
    Post surgical care includes heavy-duty cleaning of the wounds,
    antibiotics and maybe pressure bandages. Skin ointments are also
    sometimes used. The article says that a drug called fluorouracil
    is used to delay healing because it also seems to prevent the tumor
    from growing back. Follow-on treatment may be necessary: freezing,
    eclectrially cauterizing it or radiation may be used as followups.
    
    Skin grafts may be necesary to cover very large wounds from sarcoid
    removal..Success rates are said to be high for surgery.
    
    Freezing is the preferred  method by some vets. They claim at least
    66 to 80% success rates. Sometimes, spontaneous reduction of other
    sarcoids that weren't treated is reported after freezing the main one.
    
    Freezing is done by dropping the sarcoid's temperature to -25
    Fahrenheit(-32 C) by spraying it with liquid nitrogen or
    sticking probes (that have been chilled w/liq. nitrogen) into the
    sarcoid. The are is thawed slowly to 0 Fahrenheit and then refrozen to
    -25 F. This freeze-thaw cycle may be repeated upto 3 times. 
    
    The sarcoid falls off in 7 - 10 days. It heals over in 4 - 8 weeks.
    Some horses have had problems with the bone underneath the sarcoid
    dying after freezing sarcoids which can cause lameness or fractures.
    
    Hyperthermia(heat treatment) is often used in "stable call" situations
    because the units are "affordable", portable and fairly safe. The vet
    inserts crossing probes and then surges the heat through the probes.
    No reports of bone death like there are with freezing treatments.
    
    Immunotherapy has been used but the success rate is unknown. It seems
    to work better on the head but a low success rate on the lower legs.
    Sometimes this therapy involves making vaccines from the horse's own
    sarcoids.
    
    So there you have it. There's not a whole lot more in the article.

    
    Thanks John,
    
    I'm glad I did remove the Sarcoids (so far).  I did have a flat dorment
    one for about 3yrs (on Sultans chest) but this year it grew and changed
    shape.
    
    We have one more round of cancer drugs to go - next month.  I hope I
    will not see those pesky things agin.
    
    Louisa

    
    Sultans Sarcoid on his chest - looks like it is on this way back!  :-(
    The stichtes have healed nicely and the hair is all grown back, but
    there is a large bump under the skin - and you can grab it and it feels
    hard - and it is disk shaped.
    
    I have another round of cancer drugs scheduled, but I dont think it's
    going to work.. :-(  
    
    UGH~  make this things go away.
    
    Louisa

      John,
      
      Just to say that the article you published on Sarcoids has been very 
      helpful to me.
      My mare has a Sarcoid on the inside of her thigh (hind leg). This bled and 
      has, we think by contagion, caused another Sarcoid on one of her teats. 
      This developed very quickly within 2 weeks.
      My mare is a broodmare and is due to foal middle May, and this new Sarcoid 
      may hinder the foal when feeding, not to mention what it may do to my 
      mare.
      When we called in our usual vet he said that she should be operated on, 
      under general anesthetic, when the foal was weaned, and have the Sarcoid 
      cut out. No other treatment was suggested.
      At this point, I remembered having read something about Sarcoids in the 
      Notes File, so I looked through and found your article. I translated this 
      into French.
      We have now called in another vet, more specialised, who will be coming to 
      see her this week. I will give him the translation to show that other 
      methods exist, and may work, before talking about operations. If I had not 
      read the article, I would have accepted what I'd been told.
      Although you don't know it John, you've been a great help to me. Thanks.
      
      Patricia

    Patricia,  good luck with your Sarcoids.  Afte I had my horses operated
    on it did not grow back.  There is still a Sarcoid there, but it's not
    grow larger.
    
    I agree, this notes file is the best and John is the person to go to
    when you need help. :-)
    
    Louisa

    Gulp. You are very kind. I'm glad to have been of help...but really all
    I did was remember something I had read and summarized it...but you're
    welcome