How does lymphoma cause death?
Lymphoma is a rapidly growing malignancy that is able to go and grow anywhere where there is lymph tissue. This is virtually every organ in the body. Eventually, the cancer will infiltrate an organ to such an extent that that organ fails (often this is the bone marrow or the liver). The patient loses his/her appetite, vomits or gets diarrhea, weakens and dies. At some point the tumor becomes resistant to therapy and no further remissions can be obtained. My dog does not fit the above scenario at all. What are other forms of lymphoma? Lymphoma is classified by anatomic area affected. By far, the most common form in the dog is the multicentric form as described above. There are other forms: • Skin form (also called mycosis fungoides) • Gastrointestinal form (affecting only the GI tract) • Leukemia (bone marrow form) Lymphoma can occur anywhere in the body where there is lymph tissue. At this time, I will concentrate on multicentric lymphoma. Chemotherapy The word chemotherapy conjures im
