Our thanks to Lonna Coleman for spotting this on the Internet.
Story by Jessica Bennett dated November 17, 2010
[excerpt]MOORABBIN vets have discovered that man’s best friend may hold the key to reducing the side-effects of chemotherapy in humans.
Dr Charles Kuntz, from Southpaws Speciality Surgery, said the clinic was conducting a world-first trial on dogs with bone cancer, which involved administering an even dosage of chemotherapy over a three-day period, rather than intense bouts over several hours.
“Traditional chemotherapy has a range of side effects such as nausea, vomiting and kidney toxicity,” Dr Kuntz said.
“The benefit this treatment has is it is slowly dripped in by a pump inserted under the skin over three days.
“This way you’re not getting the high peaks of toxicity of regular chemotherapy but the cancer is being exposed to larger amounts over time.”
Dr Kuntz said the method also cut the cost of treatment from between $3000 and $6000 to $1000.
Dr Kuntz said none of the 17 dogs included in the clinical trial had exhibited the usual side-effects of chemotherapy.
“The benefits are spending shorter time in chemotherapy treatment and the cost is much less,” he said.
Dr Kuntz said he had been approached by oncologists about the future application of the treatment in humans.
“It’s very exciting,” he said.
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