May 6, 2010 - Angel"s Leukopheresis Procedure at NC State!

Hi everyone, 


Dr. Suter called last night to let us know that Angel is still 100% cancer free! They moved forward and performed the Leukopheresis Procedure today. This is procedure will harvest Angel’s stem cells for implantation tomorrow; it’s sort of like dialysis. Angel was placed under light sedation; Dr. Suter had to speak quietly so he didn’t wake her.

The procedure is painless in humans, but they often complain of being cold. They assume that it’s the same for dogs, so they put a blanket over them to keep them warm.

These pictures were received a few hours ago while Angel was receiving the Leukopheresis Procedure at NC State!

The machine was running for 4-5 hours and then Dr. Suter called with wonderful news! Angel produced 1.7 million more cells than needed for the transplant! 


Humans sometimes save these cells, but Dr. Suter gives them all back to the dogs  

The more cells there are to pump in, the higher Angel’s odds are of living cancer free for the rest of her long and happy life!

Tomorrow morning at 7am EST Angel will be prepped for full body irradiation. She will receive 2 doses of radiation in 1 hour intervals and Angel will be heavily sedated for the duration of the procedures.

They will take a 3 hour break between each hour on. After the radiation is complete Angel will receive her life-saving Canine Bone Marrow Transplant! This procedure has “taken” every time and they expect Angel to sail through with ease  



The irradiation will wipe out Angel’s immune system, so a clean environment is critical to her recovery. She will wake up in ICU in a completely sterile room, safe from any outside germs or bacteria.


Thank you for following Angel’s progress!  I’ll keep you all updated as information comes in.  


Please visit our website for more information, http://www.save-an-angel.org/events.html and to donate to Angel’s life-saving treatment!  Please help us spread the word  
     

Most Sincerely,

Kristie Sullens — Angel’s Mama
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF GRAY-SCALE ULTRASONOGRAPHY FOR THE DETECTION OF HEPATIC AND SPLENIC LYMPHOMA IN DOGS - CRABTREE - 2010 - Veterinary Radiology & Ultrasound

Gray-scale ultrasonography is often used to screen for involvement of the liver and spleen in canine lymphoma patients but the utility of sonography for staging lymphoma has not been evaluated quantitatively. We performed abdominal sonography in 28 dogs with a confirmed diagnosis of lymphoma. Needle aspirates were obtained for cytology from three separate sites in the liver and three sites in the spleen and the sonographic appearance was noted at each site. Our hypothesis was that in dogs newly diagnosed with lymphoma, abnormal appearance of the liver or spleen on ultrasound examination is an indication that lymphoma is present in that organ. Cytologic evaluation was used as the gold standard. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of hepatic and splenic abnormalities seen on ultrasound for diagnosis of lymphoma were 72.7%, 80.6%, 77.4%, 76.3%, and 76.8% for the liver, respectively, and 100%, 23.3%, 64.6%, 100%, and 68.1% for the spleen, respectively. Based on these results, we recommend that aspirates be performed for detection of lymphoma in the spleen of dogs only when the spleen appears abnormal ultrasonographically and that cytology of the liver be performed, regardless of ultrasonographic appearance, to determine the presence or absence of lymphoma.