How long can a dog live with lymph node cancer? A Step-by-Step Guide

There are four main categories of lymphoma:Â

Multicentric—commonly referred to as systemic lymphoma, which accounts for 80-85% of all lymphoma cases in dogs. It is characterized by the presence of superficial lymphadenopathy. Because it is the most common, there is a lot more information to pull from when deciding treatment and discussing options with an oncologist. There are many more tested and trusted treatments because we know how the disease will likely behave, which can often lead to better survival times

Alimentary—lymphoma in the gastrointestinal tract, which only accounts for 5-7% of all lymphoma cases

Mediastinal—lymphoma involving organs within the chest, such as lymph nodes and thymus gland. It can affect breathing and lung functions; commonly it is an addition to other lymphomas, adding to about 22-36% of all cases

Extranodal—when lymphoma presents itself outside of the lymph nodes; takes place most often in the skin in the form of cutaneous lymphoma; the rarest form of all the lymphomas

Different types of lymphoma can change survival times

Lymphoma is classified by many different variables: where the lymphoma is affecting the body, what kind of cells are cancerous, what stage the cancer is in, and whether or not the patient is showing symptoms. All of those classifications, when combined together, lead to different treatment methods and expected outcomes of that treatment.Â

Within those categories of lymphoma there are also cell types:

B-cells are the part of the immune system that produces antibodies, which are a protein that works to either destroy a virus or communicate to other cells for help in destroying a virus

Within lymphoma, they are usually on the more mild side of the diagnosis spectrum because they are less likely to be aggressive and more likely to respond well to treatmentÂ

Small Cell— Smaller cells are able to have a bit more leniency between diagnosis and treatment; they tend to have a better survival time than their larger counterparts

Large Cell— When larger cells are affected, the lymphoma develops much faster and more aggressively. Without immediate treatment survival time can be as short as 6 weeks.

An important addition to the immune system, these target and destroy a specific kind of virus or bacteria and each T-cell is designed to destroy one specific threat to the bodyÂ

T-cell lymphomas are more aggressive, but that doesn’t always mean that the survival time will lower; with aggressive treatment T-cell lymphoma cases can have years of survival time post-treatmentÂ

T-zone lymphoma is a type of T-cell cancer that progresses very slowly and is managed as chronic, indolent disease. Chemotherapy should be used cautiously in such cases.

While it is not the standard, nor most effective treatment, canine lymphoma can be treated with steroid drugs to keep the effects of lymphoma at bay. Steroids are used to prevent inflammation and cancerous cells behave similarly to immune cell flare-ups.Â

When a dog is given prednisone—a steroid drug—as their lymphoma treatment it is more so to give the dog a bit more time with a better quality of life. Treatment on prednisone alone can bring a dog into a remission (where the cancerous cells are no longer active) but they typically only last an average of 4-6 weeks before a relapse.

The most effective treatment for lymphoma is chemotherapy—specifically multiagent chemotherapy—because lymphoma affects the whole body and chemotherapy is a systemic treatment. Multiagent chemotherapy—using multiple different drugs—is beneficial because of the nature of the immune system. The cells that become cancerous, when healthy, are designed to fight off potential threats to the body, so once those cells become cancerous any threat to the cancer is one that they will now be fighting off. When only using one medication, those cells learn that the treatment is hurtful to the cancer, and as a result, they quickly adapt to be able to fight against it. By using multiple drugs, the cells dont get enough time to adapt to each form of treatment, effectively stopping the spread and lowering the number of cancerous cells.

CHOP is the “Gold Standard treatment for canine lymphoma because of its high efficacy rates. Dogs treated with a CHOP protocol (or another effective multiagent chemotherapy) can live anywhere from 10-14 months or more in remission.Â

Some canine lymphoma patients may benefit from the addition of radiation to a chemotherapy treatment. Radiation is a highly toxic form of treatment that is usually reserved for more localized forms of cancer. When using radiation therapy on lymphoma patients it’s performed in a ‘half-body’ method, where half of the body receives the treatment, and then the patient has at least 2 weeks to recover before receiving the treatment on the other half of the body.

If chemotherapy alone isn’t working, radiation therapy can be that final ‘push’ into remission. While there is not much data on how radiation therapy affects survival times, it can be expected to have a similar length of remission time as a successful chemotherapy treatment.

Does your dog have cancer? Lymphoma in the Dog. Vet explains symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment.

A clinical trial looks at whether combining immunotherapy with low doses of chemotherapy can improve outcomes and quality of life for dogs—and someday people

A 7-year-old yellow English Lab, Jake is a “big goofy guy with a giant smile,” said his owner, Danielle Sweder of Marlborough, Mass. “He’s always happy and loves to eat, play, and spread joy to others with his infectious enthusiasm.”

Jake seemed as plucky and healthy as ever at his annual exam in May, but his veterinarian decided to do a biopsy after noticing some telltale thickening around the Lab’s neck. The test revealed devastating news: Jake had B-cell lymphoma.

One of the most common cancers in dogs, lymphoma is a cancer of white blood cells called lymphocytes that normally help protect against infection. The lymphoma cells typically accumulate in the lymph glands (also called nodes) and other organs that are part of the immune system (such as the spleen), causing rapid enlargement. In most dogs, many lymph nodes are involved across the body. This was the case for Jake, who had enlarged lymph nodes across his whole body.

In general, dogs with lymphoma tend to survive a very short period of time without treatment—only around two to three months. However, lymphoma is a type of cancer that usually responds well to chemotherapy. The standard chemotherapy treatment regimen—CHOP, an acronym for 4 different drugs that are used—can extend that survival time for most dogs to 10 to 14 months.

When Sweder met with an oncologist at the Foster Hospital for Small Animals, she learned about an encouraging new treatment option. Jake qualified for a clinical trial studying an experimental therapy that helps to activate the immune system to kill lymphoma cells in dogs.