Not cancer...but i'm confused...

Well Marmalade had a lump removed on Monday and I just got the results back. Unfortunately, I missed the call and only have a voice mail, and the vet won't be back in the office until Monday (there are several vets at this practice). I wish I had heard the phone because I have a million questions now and google isn't helping.

She said that the biopsy results showed that he had a "severe lymphocytic plasmacytic dermatitis with lymphoblast infiltration".

She said its not cancerous, but it can be pre-cancerous, so if any more lumps appear they have to be removed and biopsied. From what it sounds like, I'm under the impression that this would have turned into cancer if it hadn't been noticed or if we waited too long. But since thats a mouthful of words that she said, I tried googling to get more information, and all I can find is references to lymphoma, stomatitis, and that the lymphoblast infiltration has something to do with cancer cells. I can't find anything clear on this exactly though. I'm concerned and confused and worried because I'm not finding anything that says its NOT cancerous, but again, I can't find anything which states what she said in its entirety. So does anyone have any information on what this is? Or is someone better at searching the internet than me and able to point me in the right direction for some info? I understand the difference between pre-cancerous and cancerous...but what I don't understand is why actual cancer seems to be what is mostly showing up in search results. I'll call the vet when she's back in on Monday, but this is going to drive me crazy until then.

ETA: The lump was on his butt so obviously nowhere near his mouth but lymphocytic-plasmacytic gingivitis and stomatitis keeps popping up in search results, so the area where his lump was located is making any sense to what my search results are showing.

Ok, first let's break down what she said:

lymphocytic: A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell. White blood cells form your immune system

plasmacytic : A plasmacyte is also a white blood cell. It's mostly found only in the bone marrow, but sometimes can show up in the blood.

dermatitis : Derma is skin. Dermatitis is inflammation of the skin

lymphoblast: These are also white blood cells. However, they are immature cells than when mature become lymphocytes.

infiltration: Means to invade.

There are lots of conditions out there for both human and animals that are not cancerous, but have the potential to become cancerous.

The vet was saying is that while the findings of this particular biopsy was negative for cancer, that because your cat has this condition, they will have to biopsy any future lumps to make sure that the condition hasn't become cancerous. The lumps can appear anywhere, and may or may not be visible or palpable. Do they plan to do routine scans of any kind such as xrays? If so, how frequent? We do xrays on patients every 6 to 12 months depending on the stability of their disease/condition.

I work in an out patient oncology treatment centre, and deal with many malignant forms of cancer as well as many benign conditions that have the potential to become cancer.

While your cat's condition may become cancerous at some point in the future, it isn't there yet. Keeping a close eye on things is your vet's way of monitoring for changes in the condition, and allowing for early treatment for B-Cell Lymphoma should the need arise.