Feline exocrine pancreatic carcinoma: a retrospective study of 34 cases

Thirty-four cases were reviewed in this retrospective study for information on clinical presentation, prognostic indicators, survival time and response to various therapies. The most common presenting clinical signs were weight loss, decreased appetite, vomiting, palpable abdominal mass and diarrhoea. Metastatic disease was confirmed in 11 cats. The overall median survival was 97 days. The median survival times for patients who received chemotherapy or had their masses surgically removed was 165 days. Those patients who had an abdominal effusion present at the time of diagnosis survived a median of 30 days. Cats that received non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug therapy had a median survival of 26 days. This study confirms that exocrine pancreatic carcinoma in cats is an aggressive tumour with a high metastatic rate and poor prognosis, although three patients survived over 1 year. Fifteen percent of the patients were diabetic, which raises the question as to what the link between diabetes and pancreatic cancer in people and cats may be.