'Geriatric' Tiger At Brookfield Gets Hip Replacement

La Grange IL

28 January, 2021

10:00 AM

Description

BROOKFIELD, IL — Hip surgeries become more common as people age. The same goes for tigers. On Wednesday, an endangered Amur tiger suffering from an arthritic hip underwent a successful total hip replacement surgery at Brookfield Zoo with a custom-designed, patient-specific implant, according to a news release from the zoo. The latest news came Thursday evening. Zoo spokeswoman Sondra Katzen said the tiger, Malena, suffered a slight setback. "The implant popped out of the socket," Katzen said in an email to media. "Malena will be fine. However, our veterinary team will now need to perform their back-up plan surgery this weekend." Wednesday's surgery is believed to be the first time such a procedure was attempted on a tiger in North America, the release said. During the surgery, which took place at the zoo's Animal Hospital, 10½-year-old Malena received a custom-made implant that was designed and manufactured to fit her perfectly, the zoo said. Like humans, animals routinely develop degenerative changes in their joints as they age that can lead to the development of arthritis. When Malena arrived at Brookfield Zoo from another zoo in June, she had already been diagnosed with hip arthritis and had been receiving pain relief medications to keep her comfortable, according to the zoo. As part of Malena's incoming medical examination, Chicago Zoological Society veterinarians included a CT scan to fully characterize the status of her hips. (Brookfield Zoo is one of only a few zoos in the world to have a CT scanner on-site.) Given the severity of the lesions in her left hip and Malena's age, doctors felt that a full joint replacement, or a total hip arthroplasty, was the best option to relieve arthritis-associated pain and provide a return to normal joint function, according to the news release. It is a procedure in which surgeons replace worn-out and damaged sections of the hip bone and pelvis to create an artificial joint using implants. Although it is routinely performed on people, the procedure is less common in veterinary medicine, particularly in non-domestic species, according to the zoo. "Although geriatric, Malena could still have many years of life ahead of her, so our team was focused on finding a solution that could keep her active and comfortable," Dr. Mike Adkesson, vice president of clinical medicine for the Chicago Zoological Society, said in the news release. To prepare for the surgery, which took just over six hours, the veterinary surgical team was able to refine and practice the procedure extensively using computer simulations, as well as using 3D-printed models, the zoo said. "This implant will restore Malena's normal hip movement and alleviate her discomfort. It will allow her the ability to navigate around her outdoor habitat without difficulty and lead a normal life for a tiger," Adkesson said in the release.