Pituitary Tumor Surgery

These links were posted on catacromegaly.com and I wanted to get them over here as well. This kitty had pituitary surgery to remove the acro-tumor. I had heard in the past that pituitary surgery was not very feasible in cats, but I guess that's changing.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20417901
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18684148
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20887134

 

I just saw those posts over the weekend. I hope she sees good results.

 

Considering they went from 16 u to 1 u in 3 weeks, it sounds like he's doing great. Of course, poor guy had to recuperate for 3 weeks and I winder if the price is comparable or more than the SRT?

 

This is interesting, although I'm not sure that I can afford either the surgery or the radiation therapy. We have a neurologist who has been practicing the surgery on dogs, but my vet is not sure if he's ready to think about trying it on a cat. In fact, I'm sure my vet would be interested to hear news of the success of this method.

Oh, and good luck to the kitty! Very exciting news, nonetheless.

 

Any more news on kitty post-surgery?

I am a human acromegalic. I first noted symptoms in 2003, was finally diagnosed in 2008 and had the same (transsphenoidal) surgery that Fall. My pituitary tumor grew back, and in November 2009 I had SRS. In the year since then, my IGF-1 numbers plateau'd, went down, and then started going back up, but I've learned that this radiation treatment doesn't necessarily show results for a long time (years) in us humans.

I'm very curious to hear about my feline counterpart!

 

Hi Megan,

This poster is over on catacromegaly.com (she's never come over here). It would be great if you went over there and posted or sent her a PM. How have you been feeling since the SRS? We'd love an update on you sometime.

Heather

 

Hi,

Hope Loki continues to do well. My kitty Noah was diagnosed with pituitary tumor back in June of 2008. He had radiation treatments, which were successful in shrinking the tumor, but three years later, the tumor seems to be growing back. He happens to be a patient at VCA in LA and my doctor told me about the surgery Loki had, so I was very excited to read your posting about Loki and learn that the surgery was a success! Noah is scheduled to have another MRI in March to check on the tumor again, and then I will need to make decisions. As you wrote, this surgery is amazing but there are risks and my cat is 16 years old and already went through radiation treatments.

Good luck to you and Loki! Hope he's enjoying being healthy again.

 

Update on Loki - I'm afraid it's sad news....I've received an email from Johanna...


This is very sad, but my baby boy has since passed on to Rainbow Bridge-2/06/11. He made it 4 months post-surgery but we really don't know what caused him to take a turn for the worse. It was probably un-related to the surgery but I chose not to do any other tests or procedures since he had already been through so much. His belly filled with fluid, he stopped eating and was very lethargic. We did blood work (possibly early kidney disease) and decided on anti acids for his stomach and an appetite stimulant for about 3 days but no change. He got worse. It may have been heart failure or liver disease. That is when I decided to end his suffering. He went peacefully and with dignity in my arms.

He was truly one in a million...the BEST kitty ever!!


Sending you the very warmest of thoughts and hugs Johanna -

Johanna - has only posted on catacro in the past .....

 

Patti,
Such sad news! Please extend my condolences to Johanna - Fly free Loki