Sep 19, 2007 11:33 am US/Central
Gorilla Undergoes Historic Procedure
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Beta the gorilla (File)
Brookfield Zoo
A gorilla at the Brookfield Zoo is recovering Wednesday from a historic medical
treatment that cured her reproductive disease, after suffering the same symptoms
thousands of women are familiar with.
Beta, a 46-year old lowland
gorilla, underwent treatment for fibroid tumors. As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports,
the most compassionate care, the finest physicians and most advanced equipment
in the business were all dedicated to the beautiful beast.
"She had the
same symptoms a 47-year-old menopausal woman with fibroids might have – bleeding
and anemia," said Dr. Steven Smith, an interventional radiologist at Adventist
La Grange Memorial Hospital.
A medical team from Adventist La Grange
Memorial Hospital performed the procedure in Brookfield Zoo's surgical room.
They inserted a catheter into Beta's arm and fed it to the uterine wall where
the fibroids are.
"And inject tiny particles, cutting off the blood
supply, causing them to shrink up," Smith explained.
The procedure
allowed surgeons to shrink the fibroid without removing the uterus and ovaries
as in a hysterectomy.
"We have an aging population of gorillas, and
problems with reproductive disease with aging," said Brookfield Zoo veterinarian
Dr. Natalie Mylniczenko. "It's hoped this will save us from doing
hysterectomies."
Smith's been performing the procedure on humans for 10
years, but Beta was his first primate patient.
"Most of our patients
don't have to be shot with a dart before the procedure," Smith
said.
"Once the gorilla wakes up, she's back to being a gorilla,"
Mylniczenko said.
Since gorillas are social animals, doctors believe Beta
is eager to see her gorilla troupe again. If she feels up to it, she could be
back on exhibit in as little as three days.
Beta has been the subject of
medical innovation twice before. In 1981, she was the first gorilla to give
birth via artificial insemination at the Memphis Zoo. In 1986, she was the first
gorilla to undergo bilateral hip replacement surgery, and still the only gorilla
ever to have had that procedure.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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