Tails in the News
Purdue Animal Radiation Therapy Facility in the Works
by Lauren Lewis
The dream of Indiana’s first radiation-therapy facility for the treatment of cancer in small animals is close to becoming a reality. Last month Purdue University President Martin C. Jischke announced that the university received a $1 million gift from Lafayette couple Linda and William Fleischhauer for the project. Construction on the $1.4 million building was completed in December. It will cost another $500,000 to equip the facility, which will be named the Linda and William Fleischhauer Radiation Therapy Facility, in Purdue’s School of Veterinary Medicine.
“It’s critical to Indiana and surrounding areas that our faculty have the latest technology at its fingertips, especially because our School of Veterinary Medicine is the only one in the state and one of only 28 in the country,” Jischke said in a news release.
While the Purdue Veterinary Teaching Hospital has a long-standing and successful history of treating cancer in animals with chemotherapy and surgery, its vets have always had to refer clients whose pets needed radiation therapy to other facilities. The new center will not only benefit Purdue vets, but all Indiana veterinarians, as well as those in neighboring states.
“The Linda and William Fleischhauer Radiation Therapy Facility is vital to our comparative oncology program, which treats 1,000 animal cancer patients annually,” says Elikplimi K. Asem, interim dean of the veterinary school. “With our own radiation-therapy facility, we will be able to provide the best care possible for all animal cancer patients referred by veterinarians to our hospital, improve the quality of the educational experiences we offer to our veterinary students, and enhance our capability to foster scientific discovery that improves understanding and treatment of cancer.”
The 2,300-square-foot radiation therapy facility will house a linear accelerator, which is a refurbished machine previously used for humans that targets cancerous tissue with therapeutic levels of highly focused radiation.
There will also be a holding area for up to nine small animals, primarily dogs and cats; a control area where veterinarians and veterinary technicians manage the operation of the machine; an induction-treatment area to prepare animals for the procedure; a filmdeveloping room; and a planning room in which computer models will plan the treatment that will deliver dosages as accurately and rapidly as possible.
Asem says he hopes to schedule the first patient by the end of
the semester.
