Introduction

Objective: To further characterize the clinical presentation of feline cutaneous lymphoma with a secondary goal of evaluating response to treatment.

Methods

Veterinary oncologists at four academic veterinary hospitals submitted cases of feline patients with cutaneous lymphoma diagnosed by histopathology or cytology. Signalment, FeLV/FIV status, physical examination findings, clinical signs, diagnostic tests, therapy, response and outcome, and necropsy findings, when available, were recorded.

Results

Forty-one patients were identified and described. The majority of patients were domestic shorthairs (n=29) with a mean age at diagnosis of 11.6 years. Males were over-represented in the population (n=30). FIV/FeLV infection was rare, although in a majority of patients (n=33) the FIV/FeLV status was unknown. Thirty-six patients were treated with a variety of modalities, including surgery, radiation, CCNU, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, CHOP, and prednisolone only. In multiple patients, surgery was combined with a systemic therapy. Of 36 patients treated with some form of therapy, 18 responded (p=0.004) with seven patients achieving a PR and 11 patients achieving a CR. Response to therapy appeared associated with survival; however, this population was highly censored. Immunophenotype, presence of epitheliotropism, and cell size did not influence treatment response.

Conclusion

Physical examination findings varied among patients. No relationship between immunophenotype, presence of epitheliotropism, and/or cell size was and response to treatment was found, but this was severely limited by small numbers of patients and heterogeneous treatment protocols. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the effect of specific treatment modalities on prognosis.