Sep 13, 2007 6:07 pm US/Eastern
Power Of Pets: Medical Treatments Used On Humans
Manhattan Practice Using Animal Methods To Save People
by Dr. Holly Phillips
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Veterinary practices have long been adapting human treatments to benefit our animal friends. But at one cutting edge Manhattan practice, the animal treatments are being adapted to benefit humans.
Obie, a 12-year-old dog, gets a weekly underwater treadmill treatment. He's a 10-year cancer survivor, but just last year he was unable to walk on his own.
"He was not mobile at all," owner Nancy Mangold said. "He was favoring his right hind quarter. He had torn tendons."
Added veterinary technician Renee Shumway: "Obie couldn't walk on land at all, so the buoyancy of the water took the weight off of him."
Mangold brought Obie to the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan. There, he was given massages, whirlpool and laser treatments, and put on a strict weight loss regimen.
"All of the physical therapy that we do on animals has evolved in one way or another from the human side," veterinary orthopedic surgeon Jason Fusco said.
And the animals are helping humans in return, and not just with physical therapy.
Veterinarians at the center work with researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering. It's a partnership that has led to astounding breakthroughs.
"We work together in developing a melanoma vaccine for dogs that is now being used on humans," Dr. Deirdre Chiaramonte said.
Doctors here seek safe methods to diagnose and treat illnesses in pets, and then use that information for overall medical knowledge.
Melanoma isn't the only cancer the Animal Medical Center is helping to fight. Also in the works is a lymphoma vaccine for animals, which they hope one day to transfer to humans.
"You can literally see on X-rays and tests that cancer actually disappears," Chiaramonte said.
But none of this is Obie's concern. He's just glad to be up and around and on four paws again.
"Today he is walking and he is happy and almost running, but you see it really works very well," Mangold said.
The Animal Medical Center offers dialysis for kidney disease, as well as chemo and radiation therapies for cancer.
Pets have been shown to improve the overall health of humans, so it's only fitting that humans would go to great lengths to improve the health of their pets.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
