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Campbell pet hospital offers new hope for cancer-stricken animals

Saratoga News - 9/22/2017

Sept. 22--When pet owners hear that their beloved animal has cancer, they are left with few options beyond euthanasia or drawn-out painful methods that may not guarantee a pet will live healthy or much longer.

However, SAGE, a veterinary specialty and emergency animal hospital in Campbell, believes there may be another option. The hospital is partnering with PetCure Oncology, which Jim Te Winkle, the company's chief development officer, said has a stereotactic radiation therapy that can save animal's lives.

"A lot of times, those other treatment courses were not only ineffective but very challenging to the pets. People would often choose to say, 'We're not going to do chemotherapy or we're not going to do surgery, so we're going to do euthanasia,'" Te Winkle said.

The therapy comes from a Halcyon machine, engineered by Varian Medical Systems. The first one was installed at SAGE last month, and the first radiation treatment was delivered on Sept. 7 to a dog named Peanut.

The therapy sees non-surgical radiation administered specifically to tumors and cancerous abnormalities while preserving healthy tissue. The cost for treatment, according to PetCure Oncology's chief marketing officer Jack Moore, is approximately $10,000.

The machine has a slim pentagon shape with a movable table. Te Winkle said it allows pets to receive accurately measured radiation doses in shorter amounts of time than conventional methods by using three-dimensional imaging and location technology to pinpoint the location and measurement of tumors.

While the therapy is fairly common for humans, PetCure Oncology CEO Scott Mulligan decided to use it for pets after he lost one of his own to cancer.

"The hardest part for me was knowing we would do anything for her," Mulligan said, adding at the time he worked in businesses specializing in stereotactic radiation therapy.

PetCure Oncology was created in 2014 by the founder of Accelitech, one of the largest privately held networks of stereotactic radiosurgery for humans.

"The human side of treatment was developed, and I thought why not apply the treatment and protocols to animals," Mulligan said.

Neal Mauldin, PetCure Oncology's chief medical officer, said the Halcyon machine can treat pets in up to three visits.

Mauldin said conventional therapy methods would mean a large number of radiation treatments that require pets to be anesthetized each time, a worry for owners with older pets as Mauldin said it could increase risks, such as heart trouble and even death.

The side effects from the treatment through the Halcyon machine are minimal, Mauldin said, adding that pets may experience some swelling in the treated area and discoloration to fur or hair.

"In the world of radiation therapy, side effects happen because of the normal tissue that is in the radiation field," Mauldin said. "Since we're so precise we don't often see significant side effects."

In addition to SAGE in Campbell, PetCure Oncology has six locations across the nation in Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, Wisconsin, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

"Our mission is to provide access to all pet owners," Mulligan said, adding nearly 1,000 pets have been treated across the country with the radiation therapy.

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(c)2017 the Saratoga News (San Jose, Calif.)

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