Aside from abstaining from treatment, the most frequently used canine lymphoma treatment involves chemotherapy. Canine lymphoma, also referred to as canine LSA, canine lymphosarcoma, or lymphoma in dogs, is a rather common disease among dogs, and is the most commonly diagnosed malignant cancer in canines.
Dogs can often be successfully treated for lymphoma through the use of chemotherapy, a term that means the same in the canine world as it does in the human world. In fact, like with humans, dogs can receive single-agent chemotherapy or combination chemotherapy, something that would be determined by one's veterinary oncologist.
Single Agent Chemotherapy
Drugs in single-agent chemotherapy include the following. Although single-agent chemotherapy is not considered as effective as combination chemotherapy, it is often the only choice for financially strapped owners, and can nonetheless prove effective.
Combination Chemotherapy
Some common combination chemotherapy regimens for lymphoma in dogs include the following. Keep in mind that many experts believe that regimens that feature doxorubicin are likely to be the most successful, offering complete response rates in as high as 90% of dogs and median survival times of 12 months:
Unfortunately, owners should be aware of the fact that despite the seeming efficacy of chemotherapy treatments, according to one expert as many as 95% of all dogs will relapse.
Although it is not commonly offered nor commonly performed, lymphoma in dogs can and is sometimes treated with a bone marrow transplant. A machine is used to harvest healthy stem cells from a dog's peripheral blood. Radiation is then applied to kill the cancer cells in the dog's body, and then the health stem cells are re-introduced. According to one of the few canine lymphoma treatment centers that offers this procedure, the cure rate is as high as 30%, compared to the much lower (under 2 percent) cure rate of chemotherapy in canines.
Not all dogs are candidates for a bone marrow transplant. Owners should consult with their vet to determine whether or not their dog is a good candidate or not.
A dog's prognosis from chemotherapy treatment is often gauged by two factors: 1) The general health of the dog when treatment is initiated (dogs in good general health have a better prognosis), and 2) The response of the dog to the first one or two lymphoma treatments (the better the early response, the better the prognosis).
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