Delegates at this year’s Veterinary Cancer Society (VCS) Annual Conference in St Louis, USA, heard how Avacta Animal Health’s SENSITEST® canine Lymphoma Blood Test (cLBT) could aid remission monitoring. Assessment of the clinical utility of a multivariate serum biochemical test for remission monitoring in canine lymphoma, presented by Dr Sue Ettinger, DVM, Diplomate ACVIM (Oncology), staff medical oncologist at the Animal Specialty Center in Yonkers, New York, focused on how this simple, biomarker-based test offers greater sensitivity than traditional palpation and cytological techniques, enabling earlier detection of recurrence.
Dr Ettinger explained: “Lymphoma is a cancer that progresses very rapidly; a patient seemingly in remission can appear to relapse just a couple of days later when, in reality, the disease has actually been progressing unnoticed. We monitored ‘healthy’ patients thought to be in remission using the cLBT, and the results were impressive. Patients with elevated results – indicating a possible relapse – were recalled after two weeks rather than the usual four to six weeks, and were found to have enlarged lymph nodes; they had indeed come out of remission. Clinically, the cLBT is proving a very valuable and economical test. It is minimally invasive with no sedation required, achieves good results at a cost that is comparable to performing a lymph node aspirate, and the results are more consistent.”
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