Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Richter's syndrome causing aggressive lymphoma in dogs
By Comazzi, S et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative oncology·2017·Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia transformation into high-grade lymphoma: a description of Richter's syndrome in eight dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Eight dogs with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) developed a more aggressive form of cancer known as Richter's syndrome, which is rare in dogs. Owners noticed symptoms like swollen lymph nodes, coughing, vomiting, neurological issues, and weight loss. Unfortunately, these dogs had a poor prognosis, with a median survival time of just 41 days after the transformation occurred, regardless of the treatment they received. This highlights the seriousness of Richter's syndrome as a complication of CLL in dogs.
People also search for: dog swollen lymph nodes · dog coughing and vomiting · dog leukemia treatment · dog weight loss symptoms · Richter's syndrome in dogs
Abstract
Richter's syndrome (RS) is the development of an aggressive lymphoma in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). In humans, RS occurs in 2-20% of CLL, which transform into diffuse large B-cell lymphoma but reports in dogs are scarce. This study retrospectively describes eight dogs with CLL progressing into RS. A database including 153 dogs with CLL (93T CD8+ and 55 B-CLL) was interrogated and RS was demonstrated in eight cases (representing 5.2% of total CLL): two with T-cell (2.2% of T CLL) and six with a B-cell immunophenotype (10.9% of B-CLL). When RS occurred, lymphocytes were decreased compared to CLL. Five dogs had anaemia and two dogs thrombocytopenia. Frequent clinical signs included lymph node swelling, coughing, vomiting, neurological signs and weight loss. Independently from the therapy, RS was associated with a short survival (median 41 days). RS should be considered as an unfavourable evolution in canine CLL.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26463596/