Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Lymph node spread in dogs with bone cancer and survival impact
By Hillers, Kim R et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·2005·Animal Cancer Center and Department of Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Incidence and prognostic importance of lymph node metastases in dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma: 228 cases (1986-2003).
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at 228 dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma (a type of bone cancer) to see how often the cancer spread to nearby lymph nodes and how that affected their survival. Only 10 dogs (about 4.4%) had cancer in their lymph nodes at the time of limb amputation. Dogs without lymph node metastasis lived significantly longer, with an average survival of about 318 days, compared to just 59 days for those with metastasis. This suggests that while lymph node spread is uncommon, it leads to a worse outcome for affected dogs.
People also search for: dog osteosarcoma prognosis · dog lymph node cancer · appendicular osteosarcoma treatment options
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of regional lymph node metastasis in dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma and determine whether regional lymph node metastasis was associated with shortened disease-free interval or survival time. DESIGN: Retrospective study. ANIMALS: 228 dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma in which regional lymph nodes were examined histologically at the time of limb amputation. PROCEDURE: Information collected from the medical records included signalment; affected site; initial serum alkaline phosphatase activity; whether treatment involved adjuvant chemotherapy and, if so, chemotherapeutic agents administered and number of treatments; disease-free interval; and survival time. RESULTS: 10 (4.4%) dogs had histologic evidence of regional lymph node metastasis at the time of amputation. Median disease-free interval for dogs without regional lymph node metastasis (238 days; range, 0 to 1,067 days) was significantly longer than median disease-free interval for dogs with regional lymph node metastasis (48 days; range, 2 to 269 days). Median survival time for dogs without lymph node metastasis (318 days; range, 20 to 1,711 days) was significantly longer than median survival time for dogs with lymph node metastasis (59 days; range, 19 to 365 days). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results suggest that regional lymph node metastasis is rare in dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma but that dogs with lymph node metastasis have a poorer prognosis than do dogs without.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15844430/