Dick Bossart mentioned:
 
>We had a call from our shelter vet today concerning our ferret with one
>adrenal gland and blood tests indicating that the other may also be tumorous.
>He suggested a new treatment that is still apparently somewhat experimental.
>The drug is Lysodren....
 
 
    I would direct everyone's attention to the word "MAY be an alternative."
I would probably reserve this as a last resort, following surgery, and in
animals with only one adrenal, a hemiadrenalectomy (removal of part of the
adrenal).
 
    Most vets that are doing a lot of ferrets report poor response to
Lysodren, and in the cases that I have seen, the results are very
unpredictable.  Lysodren is used in dogs and cats with adrenal tumors, and
is simply an agent that selectively kills the cells of the adrenal cortex.
Unfortunately, in ferrets, it may kill the cells that secrete the good
hormones, while leaving not touching the ones that secrete the estrogen and
cause the clinical signs.  This, of course, would be very bad for the
ferret.  Or, it may do nothing at all.
 
    The people who I trust on this subject, Dr.  Karen Rosenthal of the AMC,
and Dr. Susan Brown, who have probably the most experience with this drug,
suggest that adrenalectomy and hemiadrenalectomy are still the treatment of
choice.
 
    It's nice to have a drug which we can try as a last resort, but let's
leave it as that - the last resort.
 
Bruce H. Williams, DVM         Dept. of Veterinary Pathology
Chief Pathologist, AccuPath    Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]         Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
                               [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1257]