Big lymph nodes.

Dr. Marie replied:

Sorry to hear that Shanson is having these issues!

I would agree that, even though there are some changes in his blood values, they are likely not significant.

There are several things that can cause lymph nodes all over the body to be enlarged. (The medical term for this is generalized lymphadenopathy).

The most common is indeed lymphoma (or lymphosarcoma which is basically the same thing). However, there are other things that it could be. Any sort of body wide infection, such as a tick borne infection or a bacterial infection could cause lymph nodes to be enlarged like this.

If this were my case I would be recommending a fine needle aspirate of the lymph nodes. If I wasn't sure if it was cancer or not then I would be sending the aspirate to a pathologist to look at. If this is not cancer, the pathologist usually can tell. They would likely then give you a diagnosis of "reactive lymphadenopathy" which means that the lymph nodes are reacting to some type of infection.

If we play the odds, cancer is the more likely diagnosis. I have seen dogs with lymphoma that had huge lymph nodes but didn't feel sick at all. Usually these dogs start to feel sick a few days to weeks after we notice that the lymph nodes are big.

If I got a diagnosis of reactive lymphadenopathy though, then I likely would run a tick titre test to see if we can determine if there is a specific tick borne disease. And, I'd probably be putting Shanson on some antibiotics.

It's always tough to judge a case without knowing all of the facts though. It's possible that your vet has some more information that points to cancer. However, it's never wrong to have a second opinion just to be sure.

I hope things work out ok.

Dr. Marie.


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