Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with neuropathic pain after limb amputation for soft tissue
By M. Ferreira et al.·Published in Arquivo Brasileiro de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia·2019·View original on Semantic Scholar →
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Original publication title: Neuropathic pain and prognosis of a dog submitted to limb amputation after diagnosis of soft tissue sarcoma - case report
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A dog with a tumor on its left front leg was brought in for treatment. After the tumor, identified as a soft tissue sarcoma, was removed, the dog underwent an amputation because the cancer margins were not clear. Despite receiving pain medication after surgery, the dog showed signs of neuropathic pain, like compulsive licking. The pain only improved when the vet switched the dog to Amitriptyline, a type of antidepressant. Five years later, the dog had no signs of cancer returning or spreading.
People also search for: dog leg tumor treatment · neuropathic pain in dogs · Amitriptyline for dogs · dog amputation recovery · soft tissue sarcoma in dogs
Abstract
ABSTRACT Neuropathic pain occurs when there is a lesion or a dysfunction of the nervous system. Humans and veterinary patients may develop neuropathic pain, but in veterinary it is not often reported probably because of its mistaken diagnosis. A canine patient was admitted to the Veterinary Hospital of UNESP-Jaboticabal-SP, Brazil with a nodule on the left thoracic limb. The nodule was surgically removed, and histopathological analysis demonstrated the tumor was a soft tissue sarcoma (STS) and the margins were not clean. Based on the patient’s health condition and the lack of suitable equipment, the next procedure was limb amputation. The patient received analgesic medication in the post-surgery period; nevertheless, clinical signs of neuropathic pain were present, such as compulsive licking and other behavioral disorders. Medications were administered for forty days, but clinical signs ceased only when replaced with a tryciclic antidepressant drug, Amitriptyline. Therapeutic management of the patient in this report can be considered effective, since five years after the end of the treatment there was no recurrence or presence of metastasis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Semantic Scholar: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4ce6d8fd12eb37a3565a5ed2a592b38d55da5e76