Philadelphia suburb offers rare cancer treatment for pets

A high-tech kind of radiation designed for people is also being used for dogs and cats with cancer. The only dedicated veterinary center providing this treatment is in Malvern, Pennsylvania. 
CyberKnife technology has evolved and can be a quick and easier treatment for our four-legged friends.
Cleo, an 11-year-old sheltie, is visiting from Rochester, New York, to get treatments for a cancerous brain tumor that caused seizures.
Cleo is Lily Kegl’s best friend. She’s here in Malvern at the BluePearl Pet Hospital at the recommendation of her New York vet.
“They said surgery was possible, but based on where it was, it just wasn’t the best,” Kegl said.
Instead, Cleo is having CyberKnife treatments, a pinpointed kind of radiology that’s also used on people.
“Really the name of the game in radiation is getting that dose of radiation to the tumor but sparing all the healthy structures around it,” Dr. Siobhan Haney from BluePearl CyberKnife Cancer Center said.
Haney, a radiation oncologist at BluePearl, says she treats dogs and cats from all over the country.
“This is the only veterinary dedicated CyberKnife in the world,” Haney said.
She says before the treatment the tumor is carefully mapped with an MRI and CT scan.
Before the procedure, Haney says Cleo gets some anesthesia and feels nothing during the radiation that kills the cancer cells.
“There’s no knife, no knifing involved. The makers of CyberKnife were trying to draw an analogy between the precision of this type of radiation therapy and the precision with which a surgeon would use their scalpel,” Haney said.
Haney says CyberKnife is a good alternative to surgery because it’s non-invasive.   
“It really allows an animal to get back to a good quality of life very quickly and also with minimal side effects,” Haney said.
Kegl says Cleo has been a little tired but you’d never know she’s had three cancer treatments as they’re now ready to head home.
For people who don’t have pet insurance, CyberKnife can cost more than $10,000 depending on the location of the tumor and how many treatments are involved.