This information is being shared to help provide people with information that seems be be lacking when researching bloodroot based therapies. As one friend said to me who researched such botanicals, "It doesn't seem that this stuff is that bad, or could cause such damage (referring to my two dogs)." With an increase in the use of these therapies to rid benign growths and treat cancers for animals, it is important to have information showing that these therapies claiming to be harmless can and have caused considerable damage to healthy tissue and healthy dogs.

Over the summer of 2009, I found a very small lump on Reason's back and had it aspirated. The results showed a follicular cyst and I was told to monitor the cyst for any changes. Surgery was not recommended, and there was no concern about the cyst. At the end of October, I noticed a very small, wart like growth on Clever's chin. I asked a veterinarian to aspirate Clever's wart like growth, and Reason's as well to monitor for any possible changes. Aspirations were taken and Neoplasene X by Buck Mountain Botanicals was injected into both dogs. The nightmare began.

Clever's chin swelled up the first day and then it subsided. Reason showed mild swelling the first day that subsided until ten days after the injection when a softball size lump began to grow. We headed to Purdue University to get their opinion on the situation for both dogs. The veterinarian who saw Reason and Clever was not familiar with the bloodroot therapy used and called a specialist to see if he knew about this type of therapy. When the specialist heard what was injected, he said "I will be down straight away." Thankfully, for my dogs, this specialist at Purdue knew about this type of therapy, the damage it does on healthy tissue, and how to proceed to try to stop the damage being done to my dogs. Surgical removal was recommended to prevent any further damage. The following pictures show the inflammation caused by the injection to Reason (the area was shaved in order to complete an ultrasound).

Reason's benign pea-sized cyst 11 days AFTER injection created a second cyst that grew to 6.0cm by 6.0cm
the pictures show the enormity of a secondary cyst caused by the injection that encapsulates the follicular cyst at day 11

On 11/18/09, both Reason and Clever underwent surgery to removed the "diseased" tissue. "Diseased" referring to the tissue affected by these botanicals. The surgeons took huge margins as you can see by the following pictures of both dogs' incisions. Despite taking huge margins, the injected botanicals have an unbelievable spread on the surrounding tissue, and they were not able to get clean margins on Reason. This could result in further complications and surgeries for Reason.

Clever's incision is over 4 inches long along his left jaw. Clever's initial wart like growth was less than 1 cm, and his incision is over 10cm, showing they had to take more than 10 times the initial growth to stop the damage being caused to healthy tissue by the botanicals injected. Histopathology showed Clever's growth was a trichoblastoma which is a benign skin tumor. The growth was completely excised and clean margins on the injected botanical were obtained.

Reason's incision is 15 inches, or about 40cm long and goes from just under her right leg to the left side ribcage. Reason recovered in the ICU and came home on 11/21/09. Reason had a 2cm benign follicular cyst that was encapsulated in a surrounding cyst created by the botanicals injected. Pathology of the mass removal came back showing dead tissue, inflamed tissue, and a benign follicular cyst. Purdue had aspirated the cyst in August and found it to be benign. Had surgery been recommended or performed for the cyst, "Reason would have had a 3-4cm incision to remove the cyst instead of a 15 inch, or 40cm incision."

The following pictures show Reason's incision required to remove the Neoplasene that was destroying healthy tissue.

Reason will have a significant recovery period before returning to regular activity and even longer before returning to agility. Reason's prognosis is "Good, however still unsure of the extent of tissue damage caused by the Neoplasene injection."

Why?
The explanation I received as to why my dogs were injected with the botanicals was to get rid of any bad cells, such as infection or cancer. I was told there were only two possible outcomes from the injections administered: (1) the growth would simply turn black and fall off or (2) nothing at all would happen. It was also emphatically stated that the injections that were given would not cause any harm to my dogs.

I still cannot understand why this therapy would be injected into two young, healthy dogs. The growths were not inhibiting the dogs in any way. Reason's growth we knew was benign from the aspiration done in August and Clever's growth was aspirated to see if it was of concern. I wanted the aspirations to see if anything needed to be surgically removed or if there was any sort of infection requiring antibiotics. There are several aspects that I cannot understand regarding the administration of these injections that only add to how grotesque this situation is, but I will refrain from further comment to keep the focus on these therapies.

Clever and Reason are being incredible through this very painful situation, and figuring things out with their cones. I cannot apologize enough to them for entrusting them in the hands of the veterinarian who administered these injections. While the veterinarian may have had good intentions, the results we are living with are obscene, nauseating, infuriating, and outrageous to say the least.

Updates:
11/23/09:
Clever is doing well, able to eat and drink much better and desperately wants the cone off his head. Reason has some swelling that is being watched like a hawk. I am sending pictures to her Veterinarians at Purdue and following their advice on how to proceed. Keeping my fingers crossed that she does not need additional surgeries.

11/24/09
Reason's incision looks better today (confirmed by her Vet at Purdue). The nothing but crate rest is very difficult for all of us, but she is being a trooper and I couldn't be more proud of her. Clever really dislikes the cone and is now rubbing it on everything and scratching at it when he's not rubbing it.

11/25/09
Clever's histopathology came back showing he had a trichoblastoma, or a benign skin tumor that was completely excised. Clean margins were obtained in removing the injected botanical. Reason's incision looks the same (which is good news, because each day without complications, reduces the likelihood of additional surgery for her).

11/26/09 (Thanksgiving)
Thankful to be able to spend the day with the Lexi, Koda, Clever, Pip, Reason and good friends. Clever and Reason both having a good day, and of course incredibly thankful they are here with me today.

11/27/09
Clever played with a toy for the first time last night, it was an absolutely beautiful sight to see. Reason's eyes are the clearest I've seen them and most of her incision looks better today than yesterday.

11/30/09
Clever continues to do great and enjoyed some walks in the forest preserve over the weekend. Reason's incision continues to improve, however she now has some good swelling at one part of the incision that is being watched very carefully and warm packed to hopefully reduce the swelling. Hoping it's a seroma versus an abscess (her surgeon feels it is a seroma, but wants updates on any and all changes).

12/1/09
Clever had his stitches removed today on an unplanned visit back to Purdue for Reason who has a seroma. Reason's stitches remain intact for another week, continued warm packs, and another week of crate rest only for her. Fingers crossed we don't need to make another unplanned visit.

12/6/09
Clever is doing great. Reason continues on crate rest, warm packs every three hours, and is sore. Her seroma seems to have stopped growing and we return to Purdue Tuesday.

12/8/09
Reason was admitted to Purdue for another surgery to put a drain in the large seroma that developed. They expect her to be there for 10 days - 3 weeks. The seroma is preventing the three layers of stitches under the surface stitches from healing. She needs to be monitored to ensure there's no infection. Her surgery is scheduled for 1:00pm on 12/9/09. This is a picture of her seroma.

12/10/09
Reason did well in surgery. They put two drains in and are measuring the fluid output. We are still waiting for the cultures and cytology. They would like to see 20ml of fluid output over a 24 hour period, over a 17 hour period her output was about 100ml of fluid. She is more comfortable with some of the pressure from the seroma being removed. I can only hope she is now on the road to recovery.

12/15/09
Unfortunately Reason has developed an infection. They have switched her antibiotics, but all we can do is wait patiently for the cultures to come back (7-10 days) to find out which antibiotic will work. In the meantime, they continue to monitor her very closely, pulling cytology on the fluid daily, and looking for signs of the infection going systemic, as right now the infection appears to be localized. I am praying the new antibiotic is the right one.

12/18/09
Cultures came back showing the antibiotic that they put Reason on will kill the bacteria and is working. They anticipated the cultures of being 7-10 days with the earliest being 3 days, so much to everyone's surprise, they results came in today (day 3). Cytology showed no bacteria today. Hopefully we are headed in the right direction and Reason will be on the road to recovery.

12/21/09
The best Christmas gift ever, Reason comes home. Still managing the drain site, but she is home.

1/4/10
Happy New Year. Clever continues to do well and was even able to compete after two months off from agility. He had a fabulous time and even qualified despite his distracted handler. It was great to run with him again, but each morning we left for the trial, it was very difficult not to bring Reason knowing she should be running the way she loves to. Reason has had to continue her antibiotics due to the development of another seroma. The seroma is small and we are optimistic that it will not require another drain. However, we take pictures every day and send them to Purdue for their review.

1/15/10
Reason's second seroma is dissolving on its own and no new complications have been presented. Reason is feeling a little better each day, and although she is board, she is being such a good girl. She is learning new tricks and going for longer leash walks each day. Hoping to get her into a rehabilitation program in the next week or two. Her favorite trick is "Throw a Tantrum" where she lies down and stomps her front feet :-)

Bloodroot Based Therapies
Bloodroot based therapies have been in use since the late 1800's with no clinically proven results for what they claim, but definite risks for damage. The main ingredient of the botanical injected is bloodroot extract which burns healthy and non-healthy tissue and creates incredible scarring. Most internet sites claim these bloodroot based remedies only burn cancerous or infected tissue (but yet state to avoid extended contact with healthy tissue).

These therapies are not regulated by the FDA and therefore the producers do not need to disclose purity, potencies, harmful side effects, or clinically prove the validity of their product. Independent research on these types of products and their ingredients before considering or recommending their use is absolutely critical. Even with professional recommendations, endorsements, and administration, these products including bloodroot can be toxic and extremely dangerous.

Clinical Findings for Human Skin Cancers
The American Medical Association published an article in 2002 proving that while they might burn or get rid of a surface tumor, growth or lesion, they absolutely do not destroy only and/or all of the cancerous cells. Of the patients in this study that opted to try these types of remedies against doctors orders, ALL of them but one had cancerous cells under the significant scarring that resulted from these bloodroot based remedies, or developed residual tumors. The one they didn't have evidence of dropped out of the study and no follow up was obtained on that person. One of the patients in the study had a Basal Cell Carcinoma on his nose, he applied a bloodroot based remedy which ate the majority of his nose. Cancerous cells were found at what used to be the base of his nose. He underwent traditional treatment and major reconstructive surgery on his nose. If you research any of these sites selling and/or promoting the use of bloodroot based therapies, you will not find any clinical follow up to support their miraculous claims. While tumors and growths might be gone, none of the sites promoting their product have any histopathology after application of these remedies to prove their claims.

Beneficial Aspects for Cancer
There may be very unique and extreme situations where bloodroot therapies may be beneficial. These bloodroot therapies are often compared to chemotherapy, in that both treatments burn healthy and non-healthy tissue. They have proven beneficial for extreme inoperable cancer situations. For example in a mast cell tumor that grew back each time after three surgeries, bloodroot therapies were a consideration as a last resort. These therapies did destroy the tumor; however histopathology was not done on the site after the tumor was gone to determine if the cancerous cells were still present. I also received one email from a person who's dog with bladder cancer was prescribed to drink a bloodroot based therapy. After seeing her dog's reaction, she discontinued use after a couple of times. While there may be beneficial uses for these treatments, definitive diagnosis is critical, as well as full disclosure about the side effects, risks, and justification as to why such a therapy might be beneficial.

Bloodroot Based Therapies for Benign Growths
It has been very difficult to find information (except the promotional web sites by the seller of these therapies) on using these therapies on benign growths. I did find one paragraph in an article published in The Whole Dog Journal (June 2007). The treatment for a benign histiocytoma on a dog's toe consisted of an oral dose of the Neoplasene and after treatment the benign tumor disappeared. The alternative treatment was antibiotics, which was not attempted, and if the antibiotics didn't work amputation of the toe would be a consideration. Contradictions within the article are of concern, as one paragraph states these herbal remedies are gentle, while the very next paragraph quotes a veterinarian as saying, "Bloodroot salves are rarely gentle...". In this article, the producer of the therapies used states that over 2,000 veterinarians are using these remedies (mostly in the United States) as of 2007.

Lack of Objective Information
Veterinarian use of these therapies are on the rise. One of the producers of a bloodroot therapy attended a major convention geared toward veterinarians last year, and the use of these therapies is also being taught in some veterinarian curriculum/seminars. Due to the lack of objective information available regarding the use of bloodroot therapies, one of the veterinarians at Purdue University who helped with Reason and Clever has agreed to write two articles, one for the non-medical publication for the lay reader and one for the scientific veterinarian publications.

Links
When researching this information, it is very difficult to find any scientific evidence when searching bloodroot, product names, or Neoplasene (thank you for the feedback regarding this concern). Most of the sites found when researching these terms result in sites promoting the use of these therapies, and minimizing or even omitting the risks, facts, and side effects. To find factual and medical based articles search for Escharotic Agents. Here are a few links to provide more information and history of these bloodroot based therapies for use on cancer:
DermNet
Archives of Dermatology -- this link shows pictures of the man who had the Basal Cell Carcinoma on his nose that was destroyed after application of a bloodroot based therapy
Quackwatch -- very graphic pictures of what bloodroot based therapies can do, also an excellent description of what these therapies claim versus what they actually do
Veterinarian Article -- an article written by a Veterinarian discussing the dangers of bloodroot therapies

Thank You
I cannot thank the wonderful surgeons, specialists and students at Purdue University enough for all they have done for Reason and Clever. Reason's incision was made to reduce the long term effects and scar tissue by making the incision so it moved with her natural movement instead of pulling against the incision. They are truly brilliant.

Thank you to those who have provided valuable information, comfort, support and encouragement during all of this.

Side Notes
Those of you who know me, know how diligent I am about the care of my dogs, and realize the devastation this situation caused. If this information can prevent one inappropriate use of these therapies, sharing these details is justified.

Particulars regarding consultation, research performed, consent, response, or lack thereof with the administering veterinarian as related to this situation are intentionally omitted as they would detract from providing information about the damage bloodroot based therapies caused my dogs. Such aspects will be addressed appropriately.

This page is a work in progress. As more information is learned this page will be updated.

Questions or comments are welcome: krisgarra@me.com