PGI to get India’s 1 st Dedicated Animal House

The department of Radio diagnosis and Imaging at the PGI,
Chandigarh is installing the first-ever Digital Subtraction
Angiography (DSA) facility in the country dedicated for basic
research in animals. This facility will aim at testing new drugs and
hardware that can potentially be used for treatment of human
disorders stated Prof. Dr. M.S. Sandhu, Head, Deptt. of
Radiodiagnosis at PGI. The DSA machine is basically a sophisticated
digital X-ray emitting machine, which helps in the precise evaluation
of vessels inside the human or animal body once iodine based
contrast is injected into the specific vessel through thin tubes called
catheters which are placed inside that vessel, and it gives an
exquisite display of the vascular system of that particular organ and
the blood flow pattern
Interventional radiologists use this machine for doing
angiography of various organs of the body like the brain, liver,
kidneys and also of the extremities. The various treatments that the
interventional radiologists can do is opening up of blocked vessels,
plugging of leaking vessels and delivering super selectively the
chemotherapy or the radiation to the tumor in the affected organ.
Before coming into market for human use, all the drugs and
allied equipment have to undergo strict checks initially in animal
models followed by human trials in various phases. Currently, due
to the lack of appropriate testing facilities for newer devices aimed
at Interventional treatment of disorders in India, almost all of these
certifications are done in the United States, Europe and East-Asian
countries. This often involves delay in treatment coming to Indian
shores and is significantly expensive due to high import duties. With
the setting up of this laboratory, there is a chance that these
limitations may be superseded to some extent for some new drugs
and equipment’s. The Animal House DSA facility will also be in sync
with the national policy of ‘Make in India’ and it will be in the
interest of patient care too, stated Prof. Sandhu.
Animal DSA installations need a sophisticated setup requiring,
in addition to the DSA equipment, the entire infrastructure to house
the appropriate animals. Expert personnel and conditions are
required to take suitable care of these animals in providing fair
living conditions to them in an ethical humane setup. The procedure
for starting research experiments involves clearance of the
experimental study by the Institute animal ethics committee, which
approves it after detailed deliberation about the expected results
and risks to the animals. Thereafter, these animals are subjected to
angiographies on the DSA to map the vessels. Subsequent
administration of experimental drugs is undertaken or deployment
of new devices is carried out like stents, coils, etc to understand the
changes these lead to in the animals. Sometimes, for evaluating the
results, angiographies have to be repeated after a certain interval.
The results subsequently achieved aid to develop specific therapies
for various vascular and parenchymal disorders in human beings.
The animals on which Research is done at PGIMER include Sheep,
Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Mice, Rats, Hamsters.
Specific diseases or pathologies are first created in animals by
artificial means mentioned in medical literature. This is followed by
an attempt at treating those using angiographically guided drugs
and devices. Other areas where animal DSA may prove useful is in
devising minimally invasive interventional treatment of primary and
secondary liver and renal tumors, peripheral arterial disease in
patients presenting with blackening of the arms and legs secondary
to reduction in blood flow due to diabetes, smoking and high
cholesterol levels and for treatment of vascular disorders of the
lungs and abdomen. Newer anticancer drugs, the safety of which is
not known, can be angiographically injected in specific organs of the
animals and the response can be assessed thereafter. All in all, the
animal DSA facility will help the Institute and Department to set
high standards in patient care through concurrent testing of various
novel treatments by angiographic means, reiterated Prof MS
Sandhu.
Some other diseases that this system can be of potential help
is management of neurological disorders like acute stroke, carotid
stenosis, intracranial aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations,
carotico-cavernous fistulae etc.
Many projects of various departments at PGI need X-Rays of
animals, which can also be done on this DSA machine.
This dedicated DSA Animal Laboratory will also give the
opportunity to the Interventional Radiologists to collaborate with
other researchers inside and outside the Institute and even at an
International level. It will thus greatly open up the scope for doing
multidisciplinary and multicenteric research projects at PGI stated
Prof. Sandhu.