Curing Cancer in Dogs and Humans.
A few weeks ago there was a letter in Tribune. The gist of the letter is summed up by the final words - if I remember correctly, something like - "Doctors have been working for 30 years trying to find a cure for cancer and are no closer now than when they started." I thought that deserved a response.
I can empathize. My younger brother died a year ago of cancer. A miserable year of chemotherapy did not help at all. There was a time when I could have written a letter like that.
But during the last 30 years or so many of the hundreds of different diseases that are classified as "cancer" have become either curable or manageable. Kaea, a German Shepherd, is an example of the most common way cancer is cured in veterinary medicine. During a routine teeth cleaning, Dr. Cumberland noticed a small tumor next to one of Kaea's teeth. Such tumors are common. Most are benign. But she sent the tumor to the lab at Washington State. They said it was malignant. Another surgery, removing the neighboring tooth and some bone, is likely to provide a cure. It pays to be careful and have your veterinarian look at those little lumps and bumps. My brother might be alive today if a doctor had looked sooner at that little melanoma on his belly.
The first time I met Rod, 30 years ago, he was on the roof of a house he was building, pounding nails. When I talked to him recently about this column, he was on another roof, pounding nails. He's almost 80 years old. A few years ago he had cancer - lymphoma and two other kinds of cancer. He didn't look so good for a while, and had a lot of chemo, but, thanks to Drs. Rooney, Pant, Midence, and Popham at St. Joseph's Regional Cancer Center, and Dr. Anderson, a radiation oncologist, Rod is back on his feet. And back on the roof. He's a master carpenter and loves his work.
Chemotherapy and Radiation therapy for dogs, cats, and other animals are available at WSU, under the direction of Dr. Fidel, a board certified cancer specialist. In some cases, your local veterinarian may be able to do chemotherapy under her direction.
In a recent issue of "Veterinary Clinics of North America," a continuing education series we subscribe to, the theme was "comparative oncology." That is the study of the differences and similarities between, in this case, cancer in humans and in dogs.
Dogs and other animals have long been used as "guinea pigs" to "try out" new drugs and surgical procedures. But there is also valuable information to be gained from studying the estimated 6 million dogs that "naturally" get cancer in the US each year. The cancers are spontaneous as opposed to cancers that are induced purposely for research. Dogs are very similar genetically to humans and live in similar environments. The standards of care for pets are less stringent than in humans, allowing more experimental drugs and treatments to be used. In dogs, with a shorter life span, it is more practical to study the full progression of cancer and its response to treatment.
If you have a pet with cancer and want to explore all options, your veterinarian may suggest a referral to a cancer specialist. You may also go to the Internet. I "Googled" "clinical trial dog cancer" and found several websites with information about clinical trials at various Veterinary Schools and other research institutes. Your veterinarian can help you separate the "wheat from the chaff."