There is no “one-fix-for-all” solution for sarcoids, said Sophie Bogers, an assistant professor of large animal surgery at Virginia Tech. Many of them require chemotherapy or invasive surgery. But she wants a better solution.
Elsewhere on the Virginia Tech campus, in biomedical engineer Eli Vlaisavljevich’s lab, a colleague has what may be that better solution: A technology called histotripsy that uses focused ultrasound to produce a bubble cloud that can break down tumor tissue.
A team of engineers and veterinarians are working together to develop a wearable device that would allow histotripsy to be performed safely on horses. This spring, their system got its first real test on a horse named Pea, a 9-year-old Hanoverian mare who had a tumor on her belly.
Want to enroll a horse in the trial?
Horses may qualify if their sarcoid:
- Is a fibroblastic or nodular-type sarcoid (not occult/ flat); and
- Hasn’t been treated in the past six months, or has recurred following treatment.
Compensation can include the consult, surgical fees, and up to $1,500 in hospital costs. Horses that don’t qualify for the live-treatment option may still be eligible for an ex vivo option, where a local veterinarian or the Veterinary Teaching Hospital removes the tumor for lab analysis instead.
Contact the Large Animal Services at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital: 540-231-4621. Please be ready to email photographs of the sarcoid from a distance (to show location on body) and up close from two angles.
