Question:
There was a woman in my barn who had laser surgery on her mare's melanomas with good results.
The danger with surgery is that it can cause the melanoma to metastatize
and go through the body. That can be very, very bad.
I've heard that too but I wonder why doctors treat humans differently.
If a person is suspected of having malignant melanoma the tissue is
removed for biopsy.
Answer:
That's correct, but my understanding is that typical
grey horse melanomas aren't "malignant", though they can become
malignant. I'm not sure what the dictionary definition of malignant is,
but I always equated it in my mind with metastatic. Vets?
So I guess my understanding is that surgery is usually not recommended
because it can cause the tumors to become malignant, in the same way
that a human mole can become malignant if it is overly abused.
