Palliative Radiation for Acro cat?

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Deena and Malby

Deena and Malby

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Hello,
Has anyone heard of Palliative Radiation before to treat acromegaly?
My vet gave 3 radiation options:
1)SRT- $14,000
2)Standard radiation- $7,000
3)PALLIATIVE radiation- $2,500
And then $1500 for a CT scan.
Has anyone here done the Palliative radiation and seen success? I've only read about people doing SRT but I can't afford that or the standard radiation.
I still need to do a lot of research of the pros and cons of each but I'm thinking Cabergoline still might be my best option with a limited budget. Thankyou!!!!
 
Wendy&Neko said:
You might want to look at this post. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...treated-and-notes-i-took-in-sept-2015.146553/The info is a couple years old now, but there are some prices and phone numbers if you want to get updates info. Post if you find anything new.

I am not sure what the point would be of palliative radiation, or what it is supposed to do. I would think you would want something curative.
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Hi Wendy,
I reached out to the folks over on the acromegaly Facebook page and I think I'm starting to have information overload and my brain is getting fuzzy!!!
I still haven't found anyone who has done the actual surgery in Washington and pricing on that… I'm also trying to figure out if any other state does the surgery? Do you know of anyone here who has actually done the surgery?
The folks over on Facebook also brought up a different type of radiation called IMTA. Has anyone on this group ever done that type of radiation? I believe someone on a previous thread also mentioned Cyberknife radiation and it being available at the California Veterinary Specialists. Is that usually even more expensive than SRT?
Again, I think I just have information overload. If i could actually afford the surgery and kill the tumor i'd love to go that route but I have no idea about pricing... so that leads me to see if I can afford SRT or IMTA or any type a Radiation.
Then part of me wonders if I should immediately try to get my vet to prescribe him Cabergoline while I figure everything else out…
Ahhhhh‍♀️‍♀️
 
Do you mean IMRT radiation? That's a linear accelerator and the original way of treating acromegaly with radiation. It can work fine for larger tumours or tumours not located in a delicate spot. The pituitary is part of the brain, and you don't want a larger area than necessary radiated. Another downside of linear radiation is that it's a lot more days of radiation, which also means more anesthesia days. There was one person here who did the surgery at Washington State, but she didn't post afterwards. I heard there was some bleeding. A second kitty had the surgery around the same time and they didn't get all the tumour so the caregiver had to have SRT done as well. Here is a very old post about someone who had the surgery done in California. Techniques have changed since then.

And yes, Cyberknife is generally more expensive than SRT. I've heard surgery is more expensive than SRT too.

Are there any university vet teaching hospitals near you? Sometimes they are more cost effective.
 
If you go thru Leo's thread, I have the pricing in there for the Vet Hospital at CSU in Fort Collins, CO. It was around $7k or $8k. I can't remember now.

It worked. Leo is pretty much Acro-free. But he still has some diabetes.

I looked at Malachai's chart. He does not look regulated. You might consider increasing his dose until he gets into the 120-180 range during nadirs. His organs are working overtime with those high BG values. Kudos on maintaining the spreadsheet for your fur-kid.
 
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