A dog’s brain tumor is treated with a new medication that might help humans

Since 2011 a pit bull by the name of Petey has been suffering from brain cancer. But light has been shed on this incredibly tough journey. A new treatment for this cancer seems to be halting the growth of Petey&rsquo-s brain tumor. Orginally Petey&rsquo-s owners noticed that Petey was having a number of seizures. He was brought in to the hospital to get checked out. An MRI scan unfortunately revealed a brain tumor.

Emory University surgeon Dr. Costas Hadjipanayis and his team have been working to find a way to slow down the cancer cells. In their lab they&rsquo-ve been using the human cancer drug Cituximab and binding it to iron oxide nanoparticles. This carries the cancer drug directly to the malignant cells and avoids the healthy cells. Dr. Hadjipanayis and his team wanted to try out their new method on Petey.

So far the results have been good. Petey&rsquo-s seizures have stopped and when he had an MRI seven months later Dr. Platt was very pleased with the results. &ldquo-We were stunned at the time that seven months, we saw limited regrowth to no regrowth.&rdquo- A year and half later Petey came in for another MRI and Dr. Platt was expecting to see regrowth. &ldquo-I think we did, in our heart of hearts, believe that we would see a large re-growth of tumor at this stage, even though he&rsquo-s been doing so well,&rdquo- said Dr. Platt. The scan of Petey&rsquo-s brain showed scar tissue, but no tumor re-growth. Dr. Platt had never seen any treatment be this successful.

The great news is that Dr. Platt has been given the go ahead to treat another 15 dogs with this new medication. Hopefully this could lead to treating humans with brain cancer. Thanks to Lifewithdogs for this amazing story.