Today I worked with Kona, a German Shepherd mix. Kona was diagnosed with stage 4b multicellular B-cell lymphoma. Stage 4 means the cancer’s location is in multiple lymph nodes as well as the spleen, and “b” means Kona visibly experienced symptoms; multicellular means the cancer originated in the lymph nodes; B-cells are the type of white blood cells that the cancerous cells are.
Fortunately, B-cell lymphoma is often easier to treat than T-cell lymphoma and results in a generally better prognosis. After talking with Kona’s owner and the faculty veterinarians, it was decided that Kona will be treated with the CHOP protocol. This protocol involves a combination of chemotherapy drugs that will be administered intravenously over 4 4-week cycles.
Ideally, Kona will achieve remission from the CHOP protocol (for dogs, chemotherapy is a way of managing the cancer, NOT curing it), with the median prognosis for B-cell lymphoma being 12 months.
Finally, we discussed Kona’s case in the afternoon during the oncology team rounds.
As a bonus, I got to tour the whole Terry Companion Animal Center beyond the oncology wing. 🙂
Enlarged lymph nodes are a common symptom of multicellular lymphoma.