Treatment

TREATMENT
  • Treatment for malignant lymphoma must be systemic in nature since it is a multi-system disease. Chemotherapy is most frequently utilized; however, some immunotherapy has been effective. Untreated, dogs affected with malignant lymphoma live an average of only six weeks once a diagnosis has been made. With chemotherapy, dogs can survive for 6-10 months with an excellent quality of life. Dosage of chemotherapeutic agents for the cat is the same as for the dog except when Adriamycin is used. While dogs may receive Adriamycin every 21 days at a dosage of 30 mg/m2, cats appear to be more sensitive to the drug and many of them can only tolerate a dosage of 20 mg/m2 given every 21 days. Anorexia and renal failure have been reported as significant side effects in cats.
  • Malignant lymphoma is one of the most responsive forms of cancer presented to the practitioner. With appropriate chemotherapy protocols, nearly 90% of animals placed on therapy should reach complete remission. Of those that reach remission, approximately 80-90% will maintain a reasonable (>6 mos) timeframe of excellent quality life. Cost is not inexpensive; however, it is within reasonable financial reach of many clients, thus allowing therapy to be possible.
  • Although marginally effective, prednisone is inexpensive and often used in combination with other drugs to treat lymphoma. With prednisone therapy, the average pet lives 2 months. One-third of the dogs and cats treated with prednisone will go into complete remission, one-third will go into partial remission, and one-third will not respond at all.
  • Adriamycin is one of the most effective single agent treatments for lymphoma in dogs. Of the dogs treated with adriamycin, 81% developed a complete and partial remission. The duration of remission is approximately 9 months. Dogs treated with Adriamycin and then switched to COP (cyclophosphamide, Oncovin, prednisone) had a higher second remission rate compared to those started on COP and then switched to Adriamycin.
Last modified: Monday, 11 October 2010, 6:43 AM