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I have a 12 year old Cardigan Welsh Corgi with GI lymphoma, B-cell. We tried CHOP; did not work. We tried for a few months alternating with Mustagen and Lomustine. Seemed to do well for a while but appears to have lost effectiveness, along with a new small mass growing in his small intestine. The oncologist now is suggesting to try Lukereine. [spelling?] The dog, Harry, was DX on 2/8/14 after a colonoscopy and biopsies sent to the lab for diagnosis. In retrospect, based on his symptoms and rectal exam abnormalities, I believe he has lived with the lymphoma for at least 9-12 months prior to his DX.

Have you heard of dogs responding to Lukeraine after exhausting the CHOP/Rescue protocol? If so, have you heard of them reaching full remission? At this point, I'll take what I can get. He is starting to have problems finishing his food despite just starting prednisone. Corgis are normally pigs. Thank u....

Hi Joanna,

Always a worry when a normally ravenous dog won't eat, isn't it?!

Gastrointestinal lymphoma can be a challenging disease to treat in dogs. Most often it is considered a high grade disease and the response rates and remission durations are typically lower than for the more common multicentric (nodal) form of the disease.

Having said that, low grade alimentary lymphoma is being recognised more frequently, but these are more commonly of the T-cell immunophenotype. The 9-12 months history may represent low grade disease, but sometimes there can be enteritis for some time, before cancer develops.

If the induction chemotherapy protocol is no longer effective, then rescue chemotherapy involves using chemotherapy drugs which the cancer has not been exposed to before, and to which the cancer has hopefully not become resistant.

Leukeran (the drug itself is called chlorambucil) is the treatment of choice for low grade alimentary lymphoma in cats. It belongs to a class of drugs called Alkylating Agents, and drugs in this class don't show cross-resistance, so it is a reasonable choice for your dog. If it isn't successful in inducing a remission/response, then it may maintain stable disease for a period of time. I am not aware that there are any studies demonstrating a complete remission with this drug in dogs with alimentary lymphoma, though.

Best wishes,
Amy

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Small Animal Oncology
Registered Specialist in Veterinary Oncology
Newcastle Region

Thank for the info!