From:
"Jeff"
Date: 2009-02-27 19:18:56 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Sick ferret (insulinoma)
To: <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
You will get different advice on how to treat insulinoma from different people. Some believe in surgery, others don't, but your decision must also take into consideration the age and over all health of the ferret, the skill of the surgeon, and the how advanced the disease is. You must also be prepared to give post-surgical care to your ferret if that's the route you choose. If you don't opt for surgery, then Prednisolone can usually manage it for a while, unless it's in the more advanced stages, which it doesn't sound like your ferret's is. However, I believe that if you do choose surgery, the earlier that you do it, the better the long-term results.
As far as diagnosing insulinoma, I believe that it's generally agreed that a blood glucose level of 70 is borderline, and 60 or below can serve as a definitive diagnosis of the disease.
Here are two links to learn more about insulinoma. Also below are the results of a clinical study that concluded that the most effective way to treat insulinoma is with surgery that removes any visible nodules AND that removes part of the pancreas, as many nodules inside of the pancreas are microscopic and cannot be seen to be individually removed.
Your best place to start for info is this article by Dr. Bruce Williams:
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/PDF/insulinoma.pdf
And then here, from Mike Janke's site:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/treatment.htm
And here is the abstract from a study by Dr. Williams and others that concludes that the most effective treatment is surgery to get rid of visible nodules AND part of the pancreas:
BEGIN QUOTE
J Am Anim Hosp Assoc. 1998 Nov-Dec;34(6):471-5. Links
Insulinoma in the ferret: clinical findings and treatment
comparison of 66 cases.
Weiss CA,
Williams BH,
Scott MV.
Potomac Animal Hospital, Maryland 20854, USA.
The clinical signs and surgical findings were reported for 66
ferrets with insulinomas confirmed histologically. All of the
ferrets were treated with one of three modalities, and
disease-free intervals and survival times were gathered to
determine the most effective treatment. The three treatment
groups included 10 ferrets treated medically, 27 ferrets treated
with pancreatic nodulectomy, and 29 ferrets treated with
pancreatic nodulectomy combined with a partial pancreatectomy.
The mean disease-free intervals for each group were 22, 234,
and 365 days, respectively. The mean survival times for each
group were 186, 456, and 668 days, respectively. Based upon
the data, recommendations were made for treating insulinoma
in the ferret.
PMID: 9826281 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
END QUOTE
There is also much other info online, but these were, in my opinion, the best places to start.
Jeff
In Memory of Neo
Caring for Trinny, Morphy, Baby Girl, Luna, and Dozer
----- Original Message -----
From: rcsimoes2
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 1:27 PM
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Sick ferret
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for your post.
I am pretty convinced she has insulinoma, although her glucose level
was between range at the time she was tested.
I wrote about 2 months ago about thinking she had it, but she showed
symptoms for 2 days and them was back to normal... we all thought she
had eaten something she shouldn't have (this including 2 vets... 1 vet
thought she had insulinoma.
Now the question... surgery or treatment... I got mixed opinions about
it last time. I am leaning towards surgery. Ans then the question:
where to have it...
Have anybody had any experience with a vet in Bethesda, MD (I don't
think it should be OK to post names here...).
I live in NC, and the vet I trust doesn't so the surgery that often...
Sorry if I am repeating myself, but this is my first ferret and first
disease, so I am sure you guys will understand me!
Thanks a lot
Rita
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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