A 15-foot-long python is believed to be the world’s first snake to undergo a pioneering cancer treatment normally given to humans, making a remarkable recovery.
The 50kg reticulated python, named after Hollywood star Jodie Foster, lives at Chester Zoo in northwest England. Keepers first became concerned about Jodi, 23, when she started losing appetite and becoming less active, the zoo said in a press release Friday.
Tests revealed that Jodi had a fibrosarcoma (malignant tumor) in her jaw, which was surgically removed but later returned and began to invade her jawbone.
The zoo’s veterinary team, working with cancer experts from the nearby University of Liverpool, employed a new treatment called electrochemotherapy and prepared it for use on a snake for the first time.
Now, several months after her surgery, it has been confirmed that Jodie is cancer-free and back to her “bright and cheerful” self.
“When the tumor returned and started destroying some of the jawbone, we realized that further surgery was probably not enough,” Chester Zoo veterinarian Ian Ashpole said in a press release.
“We were facing the possibility of losing her as the tumor made it increasingly difficult for her to eat. So we worked with cancer experts to see if we could apply electrochemotherapy to snakes. As far as we know, this is the first time electrochemotherapy has been used on a snake.”
But administering life-saving treatment wasn’t the only hurdle Jodi’s medical team faced. First, she needed to make sure the operating room was equipped for a patient of her size.
“She is so large that we had to combine two operating tables to essentially make one the size of a double bed,” Ashpole said.
Jody was anesthetized in her habitat before being taken to theater.
Mr Ashpole first removed the tumor mass along with the affected part of Jodi’s jawbone. Electrochemotherapy was then used to target the remaining cancer cells.
Electrochemotherapy “combines the anti-cancer drug bleomycin with a series of carefully controlled electrical pulses delivered directly to the tumor site,” according to the statement.
The zoo said that despite losing part of her jawbone, Jodie’s appetite and hunting abilities were not affected.
“A few months ago, we really didn’t know if she was going to survive,” Ashpole recalled. “By working together, zoo veterinarians and cancer experts have been able to use treatments developed for people to help animals in a way never before possible.”
