Ninety-eight dogs with lymphoma treated with a 5-drug combination chemotherapy regimen (vincristine. L-asparaginase. cyclophosphamide. doxorubicin, prednisone [VELCAP-L]) were evaluated for pretreatment characteristics predictive for response and remission duration. The complete remission rate was 6970, with a median remission duration of 55 weeks. Dogs with advanced stage of disease, constitutional signs, dogs that were older, and dogs that were dyspneic were less likely to achieve remission. Once in remission, small dogs and dogs without pretreatment thrombocytopenia were likely to have longer remission duration. Toxicoses were frequent, but rarely fatal. and no predictitive factors were found for a dog developing toxicoses. VELCAP-L is an effective treatment for dogs in stage 1-111 lymphoma, particularly in young, small animals.Key words: Cancer: Remission; Treatment.ymphoma is the most common hematopoietic neo- Although maintenance therapy may be important for duration of remission, it appears that an aggressive induction protocol may also be important in determining both remission rate and duration. The ACOPA-11' protocol had an induction period designed to decrease toxicity and minimize patient visits; this protocol had a low remission rate, possibly due to its decreased dose intensity. The protocol VELCAP-L was designed to provide an intense induction period, followed by a maintenance protocol identical to that used in the ACOPA-I1 protocol (see Fig. 1). Materials and Methods Criteria for Selection of CasesOne hundred eleven dogs with a histologic or cytologic diagnosis of multicentric lymphoma and that had not received prior chemotherapy other than prednisone were eligible for entry into this study. Of these 1 I 1 dogs, 13 were excluded because of poor adherence to protocol or a change in diagnosis (from lymphoma to leukemia). The remaining 98 dogs were treated with the VELCAP-L combination chemotherapy protocol.

A 1-year-old, female Beagle dog with minimal exercise intolerance was found to have a persistent, severe, and highly regenerative anemia, splenomegaly, and progressive osteosclerosis. Despite near-normal in vitro erythrocyte pyruvate kinase (PK) activity, the authors diagnosed PK deficiency by demonstrating a glycolytic block at the PK step, the lack of normal R-type PK isoenzyme, and the presence of M(2)-type PK in the animal's erythrocytes. The dam had half-normal erythrocyte PK activity, which supports an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. We conclude from our studies that close similarities exist between erythrocyte PK deficiency in Beagle, Basenji, and West Highland White Terrier dogs and that this form of PK deficiency may be more widespread than previously thought.

Young pigs given supplements of KCI in the food excreted the additional KCI in the urine indicating the importance of the kidney in the regulation of potassium excretion.Intravenous infusion of KCI increased the concentration of potassium in the plasma and the rate of excretion of potassium in the urine. This increase was proportional to infusion rate and in some experiments the amount of potassium excreted in the urine exceeded the amount filtered at the glomerulus, demonstrating net secretion ofpotassium by the renal tubule. Urinary excretion of sodium was markedly increased during KCI infusion.After pigs had been given a diet containing supplementary KCI for 6 days their ability to excrete potassium in the urine in response to intravenous KCI infusion was not altered although the sodium diuresis was much reduced.Intravenous infusion of KC1 into acidotic pigs resulted in a rise in the rate of excretion of potassium in the urine of less than half that seen in pigs in normal acid-base balance given the same rate of infusion. Glomerular filtration rate and the amounts of potassium filtered at the glomerulus during KOl infusion were unaffected by acidosis, which suggests that the lowered excretion of potassium in urine seen in acidotic pigs was the result of reduced tubular secretion.There is considerable evidence to show that the renal tubular cells can secrete potassium and that distal regions of the nephron are responsible. In small mammals such as the rat this has been demonstrated using the technique of micropuncture [Malnic, Klose and Giebisch, 1964] while in larger mammals such as the dog [Berliner, Kennedy and Hilton, 1950] sheep [Scott, 1969] or the cow [Anderson and Pickering, 1962] demonstration of this secretory function depends upon loading experiments in which potassium salts are infused intravenously. Ifthe rate of infusion is sufficiently high then the amount of potassium excreted in the urine can be shown to exceed the amount filtered at the glomerulus and as such indicates net secretion.Workers who have studied this response in the dog agree that its tolerance to intravenous potassium infusion is much improved if supplements of potassium are given in the food for several days prior to infusion [Berliner et al., 1950;Mudge, Ames, Foulks and Gilman, 1950]. Improved tolerance to potassium after increased potassium intake has also been shown in the rat but cattle and sheep fed diets naturally rich in potassium are able to withstand intravenous. infusion of potassium salts without dietary supplementation [Anderson and Pickering, 1962;Scott, 1969].The purpose of the experiments described below was to examine renal excretion of potassium in the pig and to see if its renal response to intravenous potassium loading was influenced by the level of potassium in the diet or by acidosis.393

Young pigs averaging 25 kg liveweight were given supplements of up to 1P7 mole of sodium chloride in their food each day. Excretion of sodium in both urine and faeces was increased but the bulk of the supplements were excreted in the urine, demonstrating the importance of the kidney in the elimination of dietary sodium excess. Glomerular filtration rate was increased and the proportion of filtered sodium reabsorbed was reduced during supplementation.Intravenous infusions of hypertonic sodium chloride solutions at rates up to 9-2 mmole/min for 3 hr resulted in increases in the concentration of sodium in the plasma and increases in both sodium and calcium excretion in the urine. Excretion of potassium was unaffected.These results indicate that pigs can tolerate large amounts of sodium chloride provided that drinking water is freely available.A number of studies have shown that sheep and cattle can tolerate high levels of sodium chloride in either their food or water and that this surplus salt is

Rapidly fatal mediastinal hemorrhage in a previously healthy dog is described. The lesion was manifest radiographically by widening of the dorsal mediastinum. Although the exact origin of hemorrhage was not identified, it is hypothesized that one or more dorsal intercostal arteries were ruptured when the dog ran to an abrupt stop at the end of a long chain.