To Cindy Sooy: >My 7 y.o. sprite, Daisy, has swollen lymph nodes, one under her chin, the >other under her arm. My vet suspected lymposarcoma, but the lab report >just came back and it said it was undifferentiated sarcoma.... My vet has >asked me to post to the FML to ask the vets if they have any ideas on how >to treat this ferret. The pathology report also mentioned that the lymph >nodes were not the primary site for this cancer. The fact that the lab report says undifferentiated sarcoma doesn't mean it isn't lymphosarcoma, it just means at this point it doesn't look like lymphosarcoma. The fact that there are multiple nodes involved suggests to me it may be a particularly unusual form of lymphosarcoma. How do you treat an undifferentiated sarcoma? There are several things we must find out first - 1) what type of sarcoma it is, and 2) where the primary is, if it didn't arise in the lymph node. Sarcomas, except for lymphosarcoma, are very difficult to treat - the best way to treat them is to cut them out completely. They respond poorly to chemotherapy, and only slightly better to radiation. Until the definitive result comes back, I think I would go ahead and treat as if it was a lymphosarcoma (the most likely). If it isn't, you won't hurt anything, and you may get a jump on a serious malignancy. If it turns out to be another type of sarcoma, there is unfortunately not a tremendous amount you can do if it recurs. Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP Chief Pathologist, AccuPath Dept. of Veterinary Pathology [log in to unmask] Armed Forces Institute of Pathology [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 1475]