Hopkins uses human tech to treat animals
Veterinarians can pinpoint causes of pain without invasive surgery
With the same state-of-the-art equipment used on human patients, veterinarians can get a look at animals without invasive surgery.
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine is a world leader in health care known for groundbreaking research, teaching and medical care. But a 2-year-old program at the school is getting some attention because the patients are not who you would expect.
Veterinarians at the Johns Hopkins Center For Image-Guided Animal Therapy performed an MRI on Sandy, an 8 1/2-year-old dog in pain.
"That's a lot better than going in and having surgery somewhere, but sometimes surgery is appropriate too," said Dr. Dara Kraitchman, the center's director.
The technology allows the veterinary community to work together. Dr. Rebecca Krimins is a veterinary anesthesiologist, one of only 200 in the world.
"We use general anesthesia to keep them still. Otherwise, we would never be able to accomplish obtaining our images," Krimins said.
The veterinarians said the images should identify what's causing Sandy's pain.
"By the time they decide to have him come here, they want to find out what's going on, and of course find out if it's treatable and see if something definitive can be done for it," said Dr. Larry Gainsburg of Mid-Atlantic Veterinary Neurology.
It's not about getting animals access to the best equipment or the best doctors. The hope is that what happens at the center can be passed on to people.
"Three-hundred fifty of the 400 diseases that your dog would get, people also get too. So, obviously, if we can help cure diseases in our pets, we can also help people, and if we have ways to treat people, we can transfer that back into our pets," Kraitchman said.
Veterinarians said using the equipment to look inside an animal in a safe way is rewarding.