On an October day in 2017, the staff at Florida’s Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens noticed that Vera, a 20-year-old West African green mamba snake, had swelling about a third of the way down her body. The team took her in for exploratory surgery, fitting her with a face mask and sedating her for the exam.
Discovering Vera's Tumor: A Challenging Case
During Vera’s exam, doctors discovered a large adenocarcinoma, a type of tumor that typically forms in glandular structures of organs, on her liver. The mass was too adhered to remove completely, so doctors “de-bulked” it, removing as much volume as they could before closing the incision. This type of procedure is painful and, as a result, doctors administered several medications: Meloxicam and a fentanyl patch (for pain), ceftiofur crystalline free acid and Ceftazidime (antibiotics), and the non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical anti-inflammatory Assisi Loop® device.
Post-Surgery Treatment: Adapting Assisi Loop Therapy for a Venomous Snake
Related to the infamous and beautiful East African black mamba, green mamba snakes are generally considered to be more timid—but only slightly less venomous. Naturally, this made Vera’s recovery journey a bit more complicated than it would be for a companion animal patient. “Due to safety factors, the Loop was prescribed once weekly for five treatments,” the Jacksonville Zoo staff told Zomedica. Indeed, it seems that the less handling of a wild and venomous snake, the better. “For the first two weeks, the Loop was placed under Vera’s enclosure while she was resting. The sequential three treatments were performed while she was being fed in her enclosure.” Since metal lessens the treatment field’s effectiveness of the Assisi Loop, the enclosure through which Vera was treated was plastic or glass, sometimes with a layer of newspaper. The targeted Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (tPEMF) technology passes through these kinds of barriers to effectively treat soft tissue.
Zoo Staff Reflects on the Benefits of Assisi Loop Therapy
While the zoo staff administered significantly fewer treatments than the Loop is recommended for when treating domestic pets (for post-surgical healing, treating the site 3-4 times daily for 15 minutes is standard protocol for Assisi Loop therapy), they believed that the therapy was still beneficial to Vera’s surgical site as part of a multi-pronged approach to healing. “The surgical site healed well and without discharge or dehiscence,” they told Zomedica. “The treatment with the Loop was part of a multimodal approach to analgesia and post-surgical wound therapy. This non-invasive technique provided an additional means of caring for the surgical site and may have provided additional pain relief while assisting with wound healing. Therefore, we would value the opportunity to use the Loop as part of our routine treatment protocol.”
Zomedica's Commitment to Helping All Animals
Zomedica takes great pride in the relief the Assisi Loop can provide for animals with painful surgical sites –from companion animals to venomous snakes and beyond. We’re so grateful to the Jacksonville Zoo for its documentation of this unique case.
