TLE,
Dr. Weiss' surgical treatments for insulinoma come immediately after
diagnosis, not after some period of time with just medical treatment.
His belief is that when surgery is delayed until medication is no longer
effective, it is too late for surgery to be very effective either.
 
I don't know if this matches your experience or not.  And remember, Dr.
Weiss' study is not a strict control study, and the decision on surgery or
medication was made by the owner.  There may have been self-selection in
cases where the ferret was already very sick and the owners did not want to
put it through surgery, or other factors involved.
 
By the way, I forgot to mention before that Dr. Bruce Williams name is also
on the paper. He did all the pathology work.
 
Linda Iroff
Raisin Retreat Ferret Shelter
Oberlin, OH
http://www.oberlin.edu/~liroff/ncfs.html
[Posted in FML issue 2490]