Eighty-nine dogs with malignant oral melanoma were selected for study. All dogs were clinically staged and treated with either surgical excision alone or surgery plus C. parvum immunotherapy. There was no difference in survival time between the two treatment groups. However, in dogs with advanced disease (Stages II, III) there was a statistical difference between surgery alone versus surgery plus C. parvum (p = 0.01). Dogs with Stage I disease (tumor less than 2 cm diameter) had a statistically improved survival (p = 0.02) regardless of the therapy given. These results suggest that C. parvum, when combined with surgery, may have antitumor activity in the canine melanoma model.

LYMPHOMA is the most common malignancy in cats and accounts for approximately one‐third of all feline tumours. Feline lymphoma in its various guises is a relatively frequent diagnosis in UK practice. This range of presentations poses a diagnostic challenge for practitioners, and persistence and resourcefulness are often needed to obtain a definitive diagnosis. Furthermore, response to treatment is not always easy to predict as many cats enjoy sustained remission and even cure with practice‐based therapy, while other cases respond poorly and thus have a limited life expectancy. Communicating the evidence to an owner while presenting a fair and realistic overview of what is to be expected can be difficult, but this is necessary to achieve informed consent and owner involvement in therapeutic decision‐making. This article discusses diagnostic and management principles for feline lymphoma, and reviews the current literature on therapy as it pertains to choices in case management in the practice setting. Part 2, to be published in the next issue, will focus on specific disease presentations.

THIS article, the second of two on feline lymphoma, discusses how the disease can present to the veterinarian. Lymphoma is a differential diagnosis for a variety of clinical presentations in cats and can occur in, or spread to, any anatomical site that contains lymphoid tissue. A regionally localised disease must be assumed to have a systemic component unless proved otherwise. Thus, ascribing a disease to a particular anatomical form (ie, mediastinal, alimentary or multicentric) can be difficult and may have led to inaccuracies in reporting of the disease in the literature. In addition to these commonly recognised forms, cutaneous, ocular, central nervous system, tracheal, renal, nasal and pulmonary forms are also recognised. These various anatomical presentations of feline lymphoma may come to be regarded as specific disease entities in their own right as more is learnt about the pathogenesis and biology of feline lymphoid neoplasias, but are currently best considered as manifestations of a disease continuum. Rather than struggling to ascribe an individual case to a particular anatomical form, the clinician should be aware that the main aim of staging is simply to document all areas of involvement. Initial clinical investigations will pertain to the organ system recognised in the presentation of disease, but full staging is always required and should include diagnostic investigation of the whole patient wherever possible. This was discussed further in Part 1, published in the last issue, which reviewed the principles of diagnosis and management in feline lymphoma cases (In Practice, October 2006, volume 28, pp 516–524).