June Case of the Month: A Scare Down There
Hawk is a 14-yo thoroughbred gelding. Over the last several months however, his sheath developed a bad odor and then began to develop excessive wrinkly skin. Dr. Fennell was surprised to find a very large cauliflower-like proliferation all around the penis. The tissue was very flakey with a pungent odor. There was concern the cause was squamous cell carcinoma which is a common penile cancer in the horse. Biopsies revealed, to the relief of everyone, the penile proliferation was caused by Equine Papilloma Virus (EPV) type 2, with no signs of squamous cell carcinoma. There is no vaccination available for this virus in the horse. Although a far less sinister diagnosis, EPV is being recognized more and more frequently as a causative agent for squamous cell carcinoma. So the likelihood of this mass becoming carcinoma in the future is high. Hawk was put on a cox-2 inhibitor preventatively, called Piroxicam, which literature shows to be helpful in treatment and prevention of squamous cell carcinoma and a plan made to re-examine his sheath every few months. Catching this mass prior to cancer development was very important for monitoring and prophylactic treatment for Hawk.
