Hemangiopericytoma on chest - Pomeranian

Hello, My Pomeranian dog, King  has a small lump on the chest and it was diagnosed as potential soft tissue tumor, hemangiopericytoma but will need to be confirmed by histopathology. I did some search, and it is a malignant tumor that is usually treated by surgery with wide margins. However, this is tricky as this tumor has some tentaculous parts that can be difficult to remove. This type of local tumors often comes back in a more aggressive way. I am looking for people who have experience with this type of cancer. I understand surgery is the best treatment but can any vet perform this type of surgery or is it best to plan for an oncologist vet used to this tricky surgery. Any information about your experience is much appreciated. Thanks!

Hello and I'm sorry to hear about your dogs' lump.  With this question, the devil is in the detail and I suppose that it all depends on how you interpret the word 'can.'  The short answer is that yes, any vet can perform this act.  However, we do have a duty to do no harm and as a small animal vet from day one of my career, I wouldn't for example start operating on horses tomorrow without further training.  UK small animal GP vets differ from doctors (of humans) in that we do vaccinations, leg amputations, eye surgery, open bladders, remove gonads and yet probably spend most of our work-time consulting.  It doesn't take much of a leap to realise that we are not as skilled in any of these areas as a specialist surgeon who, for example, dedicates their whole career to operating on difficult soft-tissue cases and has completed advanced certificates in that particular subject.  They would probably have the best chance of anyone of completely removing your dogs' lump but they could still be unsuccessful.  I would ask them if they feel that surgery could be curative, and what they feel the chances of that would be.  Of course, they are likely to come back with a per-centage (e.g. X% of dogs presenting similar to this can be cured) which still isn't very helpful when considering the future of a single patient, because it still doesn't tell you whether or not your dog will end up in the X%.  Cost is furthermore sometimes a deciding factor and we always recommend asking for an estimate.  This is very blunt, objective information but I hope that something here is of help, bearing in mind the difficult decision that you have in front of you.  There are no right or wrong answer as to how you use that information.  Whatever you decide, the love you feel for your dog is not what's in question; concentrate firmly on what the future will look like in each scenario (e.g. if they operate or not, if the surgery is successful or not) and simply - or perhaps, not so simply, because it never feels simply - make the best decision for your family member that you can.