Thread: Neoplasene
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Old June 26th, 2008, 06:41 PM
Maddies-Dad Maddies-Dad is offline
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This thread is old, but I thought I'd post to add some more information.

Our dog Madison is a 7-8 yrs old mixed breed. Approximately 45 lbs. We didn't identify the bump on her hip as an issue for awhile because she had knee surgery last year and the bump was on the non-operated on leg. We assumed it was muscle and that the other side had atrophied because of the surgery. We finally asked a vet about physical therapy to correct the muscle imbalance and was told that it was a tumor, not muscle. A biopsy confirmed that it was a cancerous tumor: Spindle Cell Sarcoma.

We began treatment of Madison's sarcoma with Neoplasene X (injectable) 6 days ago. The tumor was about 4" x 3" in size at the time with probably about 1/2 above and half below the skin level. It had been stable 3" x 2" for awhile, but had grown quite a bit after the biopsy was done a month ago.

Our vet has used the Neoplasene numerous times, but this would be the largest tumor that he has treated with it. We decided to start with injectable and then followup with topical or injectable as appropriate depending on how things were going and then oral as aftercare to destroy any tumor cells that remained.

Our vet did 7 total injections around the perimeter of the tumor and deep into the center. Maddie was quite agitated and in some discomfort for around 18 hours after the treatment. This was despite the Buprenex injection given concurrently with the Neoplasene and the Tramadol administered at home.

The next day there was a general greying of the tumor site. A reddish ring could be seen on the edge of the greying section and as the day progressed the site started blackening. The most pronounced change was around the biopsy site which was much darker than the surrounding tissue. We kept the site bandaged, but at this time there was no discharge.

Day 2 we awoke to find 2 dime sized holes in her skin and some oozing of pussy, bloody material into the bandages. Maddie did not seem to be suffering any discomfort and we had discontinued the Tramadol the previous day. There was not too much discharge and we changed the bandage 2x over the course of the day (morning and evening) cleaning with Hydrogen Peroxide and applying Buck Mountain's Wound Balm (Yarrow, Echinacea, and other stuff I can't remember).

Day 3 there was an island of blackened skin surrounded by a ring of broken skin where the tumor seemed to be eating away forming a small "moat". Despite the greater area exposed, the rate of discharge did not seem to increase that dramatically; 2 bandage changes was still sufficient.

Day 4, the rate of change seemed to have slowed with not much additional increase in the exposed area. It did appear that the edges of exposed skin were dying at a slower rate than the tumor underneath creating a "flap" that we were careful to clean under during bandage changes. A second treatment of Neoplasene was done. This time topical using the salve.

Maddie was much more agitated this time, even using higher dosages of pain medications. I assume it was because of the exposure of the salve to the bare flesh/tumor. The vet said to leave the salve on under a bandage for 24 hours. I looked at the clinical guide from Buck Mountain Botanical's website and it recommended 12 hours before cleaning the salve off. We couldn't take the whimpering and crying so cleaned the area after 10 hours. She was crying so much that we tried to be gentle and found later that we didn't do the best job removing everything; we noticed the next morning (day 5) a little of the salve was left in a couple places under the "flaps" I mentioned earlier.

Day 5 seemed to start the process over again, or maybe just kick start things a little, with more areas turning both grey and blacker. Discharge seemed to be happening still at about the same rate. I forgot to put the e-collar on her before showering and found the bandage ripped off and part of the scab and another small bit (~1/4") of tumor that was starting to fall off had been chewed off in one area. On the plus side she managed to remove all remnants of the salve which we were afraid would have been too painful if we scrubbed it ourselves. As the day progressed the rate of discharge increased and day 5 was the first 3x bandage change (not counting the extra needed for when she ripped it off).

Today is Day 6. The rate of discharge is still high. Today probably will be 4x bandage changes. The lower part of the tumor is almost all gone (with still a flap of skin over the cavity left), areas of the flap are starting to separate and fall off. The main center part of the tumor (the island in the moat), while turning black is still there as well as the top edge of the tumor (top when she's standing and looking at the tumor from the side. maybe a 1/2-3/4" wide band). It looks like another application may be needed . . .

Tomorrow we go back to the vet for the 3rd application. I am going to ask that it be injected again rather than applied to the raw flesh. It seemed to be less painful for Maddie.

You need to be prepared for a high degree of grossness. And the larger the tumor, the larger an open wound you will have to manage, both during the stage where the necrotic tissue is being destroyed as well as after when the would site is healing. My girlfriend was not as prepared and this week has been extremely stressful for her watching the size of the wound grow as well as the pain little Maddie is in after each administration of Neoplasene. I am amazed at the progress so far and have high hopes for a successful treatment.

I hope that this is helpful in terms of what you can expect, especially with a tumor on the larger side of things. I will provide more updates as time progresses.

Last edited by Maddies-Dad; June 26th, 2008 at 07:05 PM.
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