SPONSORED CONTENT
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
SPONSORED CONTENT
PITTSBURGH VETERINARY SPECIALTY & EMERGENCY CENTER
GAME-CHANGING NEW CANCER TREATMENT NOW AVAILABLE
TO PETS IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) is a noninvasive therapy intended to improve
both long-term survival and quality of life for pets with cancer.
Cancer. Just hearing the word is enough to make you cringe.
Most of us have been touched by the insidious disease in some form
or fashion. Whether it has afflicted you personally or somebody you
love, we hear the C-word far too often.
Fortunately, we also live in an age of amazing technology and
progress. Doctors can do things today that were unheard of a decade
ago. Clinical researchers are hard at work in search of a cure, determined
to tip the scales in the fight against cancer. While we’re not there quite
yet, advances in medicine continue to evolve at a rapid pace. A cancer
diagnosis is not necessarily the death sentence it used to be.
Now, thanks to a new progressive treatment called stereotactic
radiosurgery (SRS), that is true not only for people but for pets too.
Veterinarians and pet owners alike are beginning to hear about SRS.
While SRS has emerged as an integral part of human oncology over
the last few decades, it has just become available to animals in the
last few years. And just recently, the new treatment option – and the
technology to provide it – was introduced to Western Pennsylvania
for the first time. That means that local pet owners are among only a
handful across the country who have access to cancer care for pets in
line with what is already available to people.
An advanced form of radiation therapy,
SRS represents a game-changing option
for many cancer patients with tumors. The
benefits over previous forms of radiation
therapy are both significant and numerous.
Conventional radiation therapy typically
requires 18-30 treatment sessions and
targets an area of the body where a tumor
is known to exist. In contrast, thanks to
unprecedented technology and precision,
SRS requires only 1-3 treatment sessions
and delivers high-dose radiation directly to
the tumor, targeting the deadly mass while
mostly – or even completely – sparing the
surrounding healthy tissue.
Many tumors previously considered
untreatable can now be targeted through
SRS – noninvasively, with no incisions or
sutures. Tumors in sensitive locations such
as the brain, spinal column, lungs
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and prostate are too dangerous for conventional radiation therapy
because of the risk to the healthy anatomy surrounding the tumor.
The sub-millimeter precision of SRS, on the other hand, is capable of
delivering high-dose radiation directly to the tumor without damaging
those critical structures.
Instead of weeks of veterinary appointments and radiation
treatments, SRS patients receive their entire treatment course in
1-3 days. Including an initial CT scan required for treatment planning,
patients undergo no more than four anesthetic events – 80-95% less
than conventional radiation therapy. And because healthy tissue
is mostly spared, the nasty side effects commonly associated with
radiation are rare.
While every case is different, most patients experience immediate
improvement to their quality of life and resume normal activity upon
completion of treatment.
Ali, an 11-year-old poodle, had to be wheeled in for treatment
because of a spinal tumor that was causing paralysis to his hind legs.
Three days later, he walked out of the hospital independently. Baci,
a 13-year-old dog from New Jersey, was in a comatose state before
undergoing treatment for a brain tumor. Within four months of SRS, he
was back to winning medals at obedience
competitions.
It may not be common knowledge that
the incidence of cancer in pets is similar
to that in humans. Statistics tell us that
approximately 12 million dogs and cats will
be diagnosed with cancer this year. Many of
their owners, devastated by the news, will
be told there is nothing they can do.
Thanks to SRS, that message is changing.
This article was provided by PetCure
Oncology at PVSEC (412.366.3400; 807 Camp
Horne Road), the only provider of SRS for
pets within a four-hour drive of Pittsburgh.
SRS is now in Western Pennsylvania through
a partnership between national cancer
care provider PetCure Oncology and local
veterinary specialty center PVSEC.