Dermoid Sinus

[Cairo1]

Hello there. . . .

I have a purebred German Shepherd girl of 4 years old. She has been healthy, lively and happy most of the time. However in the last four months she has had two lots of extensive surgery on her neck and shoulder. Both were due to abscesses. The first surgery found a lot of deep under-lying necrotic tissue which was removed and then I had terrible trouble getting rid of the associated seroma. A long and stressful time for both of us.

Anyway, all finally healed after nearly three months and then last weekend she came up with a huge golf ball between her shoulder blades. Back she went for surgery with the vet fully expecting to find a 'foreign body'. No such luck! Once again, after removing a heap more necrotic tissue he came across this tube which headed down towards her spine. He took a sample, tied it off and we are now waiting to see if it is indeed a dermoid sinus. According to my vet he found no information of this condition in the GSD so we are all rather stumped.

My question is; has anyone on this forum had experience with a dermoid sinus and if so, did you have surgery??? I have heard that it can be excrutiatingly painful and of course expensive. The 'excrutiating' bothers me more than the expensive!

Looking forward to hearing your experiences.

Kind Regards

Cairo1

[Red Fox]

My question is; has anyone on this forum had experience with a dermoid sinus and if so, did you have surgery??? I have heard that it can be excrutiatingly painful and of course expensive. The 'excrutiating' bothers me more than the expensive!

I've not had any personal experience with it but I do believe that the "excrutiatingly painful" part relates more to the sinus becoming infected rather than the actual surgery itself.

How difficult and/or painful the surgery is will depend on how deep the sinus is. They can be deep and reach into the spinal cord or much more shallow, I dont think the vet can tell how deep it is until they opperate though?

Some info from Rhodesian Ridgebacks (Sue Fox);

Dermoid sinus is a potentially fatal condition that is present at birth in some pups. A DS is a hollow tube of skin that begins on the surface of the dogs skin and grows down to the dogs spinal chord. However there is a great deal of variability and some sinuses do not extend to the surface of the dogs skin. A DS may become blocked with hair and skin debris, which leads to fluid collection in the sinus, infection of the spinal chord and painful death. DS is most common along the spinal column on a puppy's neck, back and tail, although it is also found in other locations such as the skull.

A DS can be felt on a puppy by palpatating and shaving the suspected area. Puppies diagnosed with the condition are usually euthanised. Some DS can be surgically removed, but those that directly affect the spinal chord are almost impossible to remove. The opperation is somewhat exploratory, because it is not possible to determine what type of DS the pup has until surgery. Even after surgery the DS can sometimes grow back. In addition caring for the surgical site can be difficult.

The condition is hereditary in Ridgies though and I've never heard of it in GSDs. I have heard of Ridgeback breeders who have successfully opperated on pups with DS too.

Hope that helps

ETA, this link may be useful for you http://home.planet.nl/~hterbrug/fdesi_02.htm

Edited October 10, 2010 by SecretKei

[noisymina]

http://www.ridgebackrescue.info/html/faqs.html

[Cairo1]

Thank you for the responses!

I have read up on DS but I really wanted some info on the practical aspects of the surgery. I guess I am afraid of going through the process without being prepared. My fear is based on a case of a Goldie puppy with DS at the base of the skull. He was operated on at 3 months and was screaming in pain from the moment he came out of anaesthetic. I knew the vet who had done this surgery and he questioned himself for attempting the surgery at all. He said he had to keep the pup sedated for nearly 4 days before it could cope with the discomfort. I actually saw this same dog at 7 months old and he was a wonderful happy dog but the horror story preceding it is making me cringe. . . . . I don't want my girl to go through that???

As mentioned, the vet has no idea as to how deep the sinus goes other than to say it disappears down between the shoulder blades. And yes, it has so far been undocumented in GSDs. Either way, if it IS a DS then I will spay my girl and not breed from her. Fortunately she hasn't had a litter yet.

I feel ill at the thought of more surgery because she has already had two major surgeries in that area and has a total of about 14 inches (yes inches!!) of suture lines and current wound. Anyway, it will remain a question mark until I get the results from pathology which should be the Wednesday.

Thank you both for taking the time to visit my topic!! It is appreciated!

Kind Regards

Cairo1

[Red Fox]

Cairo1, if it dies turn out to be a DS then perhaps try contacting some Ridgeback breeders. You may be able to find someone who has had experience with the surgery and can offer you some practical advice on where to start and what to expect.

[OSoSwift]

I have no experience what so ever with DS

I am hoping that she does not have that and your poor girl gets better very soon. Poor thing with an area affected like that, that is huge.

All our best wishes for your girl and for you

[Guest]

I have a labrador who had a dermoid sinus on his skull. He often had a brown offensive smelling discharge on his head which we had no idea where it was coming from. Eventually he had a huge swelling on his head with heaps of discharge. Off to the vet. At surgery he was diagnosed with a DS. The vet had no idea if it actually communicated with the spinal cord or not. She marsupialised it (opened to the surface) so that the hair and skin cells that had been collecting under the surface had a way out. It took nearly 6 weeks and 2 more lots of suturing the wound before it would heal but it finally did and he hasnt had any problems since. He is now nearly 12 years old. The only thing we have to worry about is covering his head if he goes swimming.

The hole is still there but only the size of a pin head

Edited October 11, 2010 by Guest