A lump appeared on the top of Rodney's head. It wasn't very big and looked very similar to a wart. His owners booked him in to have it removed. For a definitive diagnosis the lump was sent to the laboratory for the specialist pathologist to identify it. With their high power microscope the pathologist found that it was a haemangiopericytoma. These can be nasty tumours that spread locally.
Despite the appearance that all the tumour had been removed, the pathologist recommended that Rodney have a further operation to remove the skin and tissue 2cm in every direction to reduce the likelihood of the tumour regrowing. This was a very delicate operation as it was close to Rodney's eyes leaving a large hole and an advancement flap technique was used. Skin from the back of Rodney's head was used to stretch forward to cover the wound.
The stitches were removed after 2 weeks and as you can see he has recovered well. The only difference is that he now has a patch of black hair on the top of his head, where there used to be grey!
It is not always possible to be sure what a lump is just by looking at it and we will always recommend sending them to the laboratory for the full picture.
