The latest Horse Course from the University’s of Kentucky’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and Gluck Equine Research Center (presented by Pfizer Animal Health) is now available for viewing on TheHorse.com.

The presentation, "Equine Malignant Melanoma: We Need to Help the Old Grey Mare," was led by John Robertson, VMD, MS, PhD, a professor of pathology and the director of the Center for Comparative Oncology at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg; and Jenna Moore, DVM, toxicology student at VMRCVM. Robertson discussed what a tumor is, the difference between benign and malignant tumors, the features of equine malignant melanoma, how the malignancy develops and progresses, and what can be done to correct the problem.

"This is what I typically deal with," he explained, showing a slide of a severe case of equine malignant melanoma (EMM). "Thirty to 40% of the cases that I see, that come to me from referral for therapy, diagnosis, and for research studies, are tumors like this. Every single one of them started out as a pea-sized bump somewhere on the horse’s body that a veterinarian said, ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s a benign, inconsequential neoplasm.’ And then (the tumor) grows. They grow erratically, and they infiltrate substantially."

Robertson’s discussion stressed why early detection and treatment of EMM is crucial, what it can result in if left untreated, and touched on several different treatment options for helping the old grey mare