Page 7 - RVC Clinical Connections - Spring 2025
P. 7
Chemotherapy
It involves the administration of a Bandit finished a total of five months of
chemotherapy drug (bleomycin) together treatment and he is now being monitored
with electric pulses to the site of the tumour, every two to three months with bloods at his
which enhances the transmembrane primary care practice.
delivery of the drug and kills the cancer cells.
Complete resolution of the lesion is Friday
reported in 77%-82% of cases. Responses Saoirse, an eight-year-old Irish water
can be very durable in case of a complete spaniel, was diagnosed with high-grade
remission, with only 2 out of 11 patients with B-cell peripheral nodal lymphoma 鈥�
Alan
complete remission showing relapse in one minimum WHO stage IIIa after being
It is two years since Alan completed her study. presented with enlarged lymph nodes, but
chemotherapy protocol, and she remains in was otherwise well (substage a).
complete remission, regularly returning for Chemotherapy is the mainstay
clinical re-assessment (measuring lymph treatment for lymphoma in dogs.
nodes) every three months, to check that Approximately 90% of dogs with
she remains well. peripheral nodal lymphoma will go into
Alan was nervous and demonstrated remission when treated with a six-month,
aggressive behaviours when she first multi-drug chemotherapy protocol. The
presented to our service and extreme CHOP protocol involves weekly visits where
caution was taken on her handling for our either vincristine, cyclophosphamide or
safety. However, over time she came to doxorubicin chemotherapy is administered
enjoy cuddles and fuss, not to mention alongside prednisolone as a rolling cycle.
treats. We used topical anaesthetic cream Bandit before (above) and after (below) The MST is 10-12 months for B-cell
treatmernt
at every visit and she became far less peripheral nodal lymphoma, with
reactive to blood sampling and IV catheter approximately 10-20% of patients living two
placements. years or longer, however some animals,
unfortunately, have resistant cancers and
Wednesday respond for shorter periods of time or do not
Pooh is an eight-year-old cat, diagnosed respond at all.
with squamous cell carcinoma on his Saoirse is currently receiving her CHOP
nasal planum. Three weeks after his protocol and has shown a really positive
first electrochemotherapy (ECT) he was response to treatment, remaining in clinical
presented for a second, follow-up treatment. remission since November, so we will
However, examination showed a complete continue to see her regularly for a while
response and repeat ECT was therefore not longer.
required, so Pooh got to enjoy the quiet and
luxury of the chemotherapy treatment room
for a short time!
Several treatment options had been Thursday
discussed for Pooh, including ECT, surgical Bandit, a nine-year-old cat, presented to
resection and radiation therapy. ECT is our Internal Medicine Service for further
usually our first choice as it is less costly, it investigations into precursor-targeted
usually results in very satisfactory aesthetic immune-mediated anaemia (PIMA), which
outcomes and often achieves good results, was later identified by clonality testing as
with long-term control. being a secondary condition to hepato-
splenic lymphoma.
Bandit received multiple blood Saoirse
transfusions to try to improve his anaemia,
whilst the team investigated the reason why The new chemotherapy treatment room
he wasn鈥檛 responding to treatment. Each was supported by the RVC鈥檚 registered
transfusion allowed a brief improvement charity, the Animal Care Trust.
in his condition but were short-lived. At the
point of cancer diagnosis, his PCV was 11%.
Once a diagnosis of cancer was made,
Bandit started chemotherapy treatment
(cyclophosphamide, prednisolone and For small animal referrals, please call:
vincristine) and he quickly showed 01707 666399
Pooh having ECT significant clinical improvement. Email:
qmhreception@rvc.ac.uk
Spring 2025 7
