Acro Diagnosis

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KAC

KAC

Member Since 2020
My vet and I worked to get a sample to Michigan for Pumpkin to be tested for Acromegaly. IAA were normal, but Growth Hormone was through the roof................:( so my big boy has a tumor on his pituitary that is spitting out GH and causing his body to not process the insulin, etc..........

Needless to say......it's killing him. Vet contacted neuro in Jax, FL and he was a no go for surgery. Neuro said maybe MRI, then radiation......but that was near $8,000.00 :nailbiting: and doesn't know how it would work on cats.??

I've read some items online about a surgery that can remove the tumor with success. But don't know how to find who does this surgery.

Just asking if anyone knows about this surgery, who performs it, where, or if there is any other treatment anyone knows about? I'm not made of money......but was hoping that a university or vet school might be trying this treatment.

Hoping you guys have some suggestions......................
 
KAC said:
My vet and I worked to get a sample to Michigan for Pumpkin to be tested for Acromegaly. IAA were normal, but Growth Hormone was through the roof................:( so my big boy has a tumor on his pituitary that is spitting out GH and causing his body to not process the insulin, etc..........

Needless to say......it's killing him. Vet contacted neuro in Jax, FL and he was a no go for surgery. Neuro said maybe MRI, then radiation......but that was near $8,000.00 :nailbiting: and doesn't know how it would work on cats.??

I've read some items online about a surgery that can remove the tumor with success. But don't know how to find who does this surgery.

Just asking if anyone knows about this surgery, who performs it, where, or if there is any other treatment anyone knows about? I'm not made of money......but was hoping that a university or vet school might be trying this treatment.

Hoping you guys have some suggestions......................
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I know they do the surgery in NYC. I'm not sure where you are. My cat was diagnosed acro in May of 2019, but I suspect she had it for at least a year before that. We looked into the radiation and the cheapest quote I got was 8500 which didn't include any of the other bloodwork and stuff... so about 9k. We decided to just treat with lots of insulin. I can't imagine the surgery would be cheaper... if anything I would think it's MORE expensive, but I never priced it.

we got up to 12.5 units before it finally started coming back down. Sorry you are facing this. I will say that even though she's had it for about 2.5 years, she's doing good.
 
KAC said:
but Growth Hormone was through the roof................:( so my big boy has a tumor on his pituitary that is spitting out GH and causing his body to not process the insulin, etc..........
Click to expand...
There is no test available to measure for growth hormone for cats. The number that is tested is the IGF-1 (insulin growth factor-1) and the increase in that is only somewhat related to growth hormone, but a better indicator of acromegaly. Most important, there is no relationship between the IGF-1 number and size of benign pituitary tumour. Neko had a decent sized IGF-1 number and a tiny tumour as seen on her CT scan, compared to some other cats at the time who had smaller IGF-1 numbers and larger tumours. These test results were taken when Neko had her stereotactic radiation therapy. What was his IGF-1 test result?
KAC said:
Needless to say......it's killing him. Vet contacted neuro in Jax, FL and he was a no go for surgery. Neuro said maybe MRI, then radiation......but that was near $8,000.00 :nailbiting: and doesn't know how it would work on cats.??

I've read some items online about a surgery that can remove the tumor with success. But don't know how to find who does this surgery.
Click to expand...

First, acromegaly is a slow growing condition. In the US, the surgery is currently done by the Animal Medical Centre in New York. Don't know if it's done anywhere else in the US at this point in time. Check out the forum Jeanne linked for stories of surgery and contact info. Prices are similar to what you quoted, though at one point there was a large scale donation helping some people get the surgery done. I would NOT get this done by a surgeon who has no training or experience in this. It's brain surgery and outcomes are directly proportional to experience of the surgeon. We have heard some sad cases of those who did not get it done by an experienced surgeon. Radiation costs elsewhere are similar to what you were quoted. Unfortunately costs have doubled since I had Neko treated. Neko never went OTJ, but her dose got a lot smaller. The majority of her time on insulin, she was on less than 3 units, got down less than 1 unit for a while too. It did help her with some of the growth hormone side effects. We have seen some percentage of cats go OTJ with radiation, most improve in some way or other, including reduced dose.

There are cheaper alternatives - many people here are using cabergoline - a medicine given daily, to help curb the growth hormone and resulting damage. The research on this is limited, but we have more case studies here. Including 3 cats who went OTJ, almost all had dose reduced and effects of growth hormone limited.

We can help you on the Lantus forum for dosing. Over 10 units of Lantus, increases can be by 1 units at a time, especially given where Pumpkin is now. For any lurkers, this suggestions is for Pumpkin only.
 
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