Bone transport patients always have a blood supply to the growing bone, which allows the immune system to take care of any infection. This method has been used successfully in people with bone loss from trauma, such as motorcycle accidents. It has never been done with chemotherapy. Bone cancer has to be treated with chemotherapy. We are researching this limb-sparing option for dogs, but it may also benefit humans.
Bone cancer affects children more often than adults, and children are still growing.
This technique would allow new bone in kids to grow out to equal length as the opposite limb. If it turns out that chemotherapy hinders new bone growth, Dr Ehrhart's research should be able to find out why. By comparing groups of control dogs and chemotherapy dogs, she hopes to isolate proteins responsible for bone growth. The next phase will be to give these proteins to the chemotherapy group to see if it stimulates bone growth. We are one of only two institutions with USDA permission for clinical use of a biodegradable polymer sponge that dissolves over time when implanted in the body, providing a slow-release chemotherapy.