Remarkably long overall survival of a 15-month-old Australian shepherd dog with gastric T-cell lymphoma

A 15-month-old female intact Australian shepherd dog was presented with a history of acute, frequent vomiting and progressive lethargy. Only a painful abdomen was detected on physical examination. Laboratory results were suggestive of inflammation. Markedly thickened gastric mucosa with loss of gastric wall layering next to enlarged gastric lymph nodes and signs of peritonitis were detected on abdominal ultrasound. Explorative laparotomy revealed severe enlargement of the stomach wall thickness and gastric lymph nodes. High-grade T-cell lymphoma was diagnosed on histopathology and cytology. Despite the poor prognosis, a combination chemotherapy was initiated. During therapy, the dog had a good quality of life, apart from mild side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. Neoplastic diseases such as alimentary lymphoma are rare in young dogs. With 252 days of survival, this is the youngest dog with long-term survival of a primarily alimentary T-cell lymphoma of the stomach, showing that appropriate chemotherapy can have a favourable outcome.