Prognostic significance of morphological subtypes in canine malignant lymphomas during chemotherapy

Vet J. 2004 Mar;167(2):158-66. doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2003.10.009.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the response of different morphological subtypes of canine lymphoma to a standardized therapeutic protocol. Diagnosis of lymphoma was based on cytohistological analysis and immunophenotyping with antibodies against CD3 and CD79a of an enlarged lymph node or an extranodal mass. Fifty-seven cases were classified according to the updated Kiel classification adapted to the canine species, into 24 B-cell lymphomas (20 centroblastic polymorphic and four Burkitt-type subtypes), and 33 T-cell lymphomas (10 pleomorphic mixed, 10 lymphoblastic, eight unclassifiable high grade plasmacytoid, and five small clear-cell subtypes). All dogs were clinically staged at diagnosis. The protocol used l-asparaginase, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisone. First remission duration and overall survival time were evaluated. Although the T-cell phenotype was associated, on the whole, with a poor prognosis, as previously reported in veterinary and human medicine, the study showed significant prognostic differences between the B- and the T-cell subtypes of canine lymphoma and suggests that clinico-morphological characterization of the disease is justified in dogs, as in humans.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use
  • Dog Diseases / classification*
  • Dog Diseases / drug therapy
  • Dog Diseases / epidemiology*
  • Dog Diseases / mortality
  • Dogs
  • Female
  • France / epidemiology
  • Immunophenotyping / veterinary
  • Lymphoma / classification
  • Lymphoma / epidemiology
  • Lymphoma / veterinary*
  • Male
  • Prognosis
  • Records / veterinary
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Survival Analysis