The multilobular tumour of bone (MTB), also called an osteochondrosarcoma, is the most common tumour of the canine skull, although it is relatively rare in general.
MTB usually presents as a firm, circumscribed and generally slowgrowing
bone tumour
A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thyr ...
in older dogs from medium or large breeds. Its biological behaviour may range from benign to malignant, as it has the potential to invade, metastasise and recur. Histologically, it is characterised by the dominant presence of multiple osteoid- or cartilage- containing lobules that are separated by fibrous septae. MTB should be differentiated from other bone tumours. Although most frequently found in dogs, MTB has been reported in humans, cats, a horse and a ferret. The
clinical signs
Signs and symptoms are diagnostic indications of an illness, injury, or condition.
Signs are objective and externally observable; symptoms are a person's reported subjective experiences.
A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature ...
depend on the tumour location. Depending on its location and stage in the clinical course,
surgical resection
Segmental resection, or segmentectomy, is a surgical procedure to remove part of an organ or gland as a sub-type of resection, which might involve removing the whole body part. It may also be used to remove a tumor and the normal tissue around it ...
may result in long-term remission.
[Dernell WS, Straw RC, Cooper MF, Powers BE, LaRue SM, Withrow SJ. Multilobular osteochondrosarcoma in 39 dogs: 1979-1993. J Am Anim Hosp Assoc 1998, 34, 11-18]
References
Osseous and chondromatous neoplasia
Cancer in dogs