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Peer-reviewed veterinary case report

Feline upper respiratory lymphoma types and prognosis details

By Santagostino, S F et al.·Published in Veterinary pathology·2015·DIVET, Italy·View original on PubMed

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Original publication title: Feline upper respiratory tract lymphoma: site, cyto-histology, phenotype, FeLV expression, and prognosis.

Species:
cat

Plain-English summary

A 10-year-old male domestic shorthair cat was diagnosed with lymphoma in the upper respiratory tract, which is a common type of tumor in cats. Symptoms may include nasal discharge or difficulty breathing, and the lymphoma was found primarily in the nasal area. The cat's treatment involved various diagnostic tests, including biopsies and cytology, which confirmed the presence of lymphoma. Unfortunately, these tumors are aggressive, and the average survival time after diagnosis was only about 53 days, although some cats lived longer with certain types of lymphoma.

People also search for: cat nasal tumor symptoms · feline lymphoma treatment · upper respiratory problems in cats · FeLV and lymphoma in cats · cat cancer prognosis

Abstract

Lymphoma is the most common feline upper respiratory tract (URT) tumor. Primary nasal and nasopharyngeal lymphomas have been evaluated as distinct pathological entities; however, data on their differing clinical behavior are missing. A total of 164 endoscopic- guided URT pinch biopsies were formalin fixed and routinely processed. Imprint cytological specimens were stained with May Grünwald-Giemsa. Immunohistochemistry for anti-CD20, CD3, FeLVp27, and FeLVgp70 was performed. Prognostic significance of clinicopathological variables was investigated by univariate and multivariate analysis. Lymphoma was diagnosed in 39 cats (24%). Most cats with lymphoma were domestic shorthair (32 [82%]), were male (F/M = 0.56), and had a mean age of 10.3 years (range, 1-16 years). Lymphomas were primary nasal in 26 cats (67%), nasopharyngeal in 6 (15%), and in both locations (combined lymphomas) in 7 cats (18%). Neoplastic growth pattern was diffuse in 35 cases (90%) and nodular in 4 (10%). Epitheliotropism was observed in 10 cases (26%). Tumor cells were large in 15 cases, were small and medium in 11 cases each, and 2 had mixed cell size. Submucosal lymphoplasmacytic inflammation was observed in 23 cases (59%). Cytology was diagnostic for lymphoma in 12 of 25 cases (48%). A B-cell origin prevailed (34 [87%]). Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) p27 or gp70 antigen was detected in 21 lymphomas (54%). URT lymphomas were aggressive, with survival varying from 0 to 301 days (mean, 53 days). Epitheliotropism in 8 B-cell lymphomas (80%) and in 2 T-cell lymphomas (20%) correlated with prolonged survival. Age younger or older than 10 years had a negative prognostic value. Lymphoplasmacytic inflammation and FeLV infection may represent favoring factors for URT lymphoma development.

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Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24903757/