uterine adenocarcinoma prognosis

Question
Hi Dana
My friend brought her rabbits to stay with me while she was on holiday. I suspected uterine adenocarcinoma in one doe (blood blodge in urine, I read your responses to previous enquiries on this site), vet confirmed thickened uterus, no visible metastases on chest radiograph, ovariohysterectomy performed, tumour big but apparently still confined to uterus. Owner is due back this week, I'll need to discuss what's happened and prognosis - do you have any data/thoughts regarding the likelihood of small distant (i.e. lung)metastases where there's no evidence of local spread?
Regards
Joan (Devon, England, UK)

Answer
Dear Joan,

What a lucky bunny, to be in the care of such a vigilant bunny "mom".

In our experience, prompt removal of a uterine adenocarcinoma, even if the tumor is large, is generally sufficient to effect a cure, as long as no metastases are present.  It's not possible to know that right away, of course.  At it could be years before anything else shows up.  But a great number of rabbits who have had large uterine tumors removed have never had a recurrence.

I don't know this rabbit or what the vet said about the case. But if the vet got the entire tumor out, and saw no evidence of metastasis, then the prognosis is probably good.

I hope so.

Dana