{"id":23877,"date":"2026-08-21T10:14:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T06:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/?p=23877"},"modified":"2026-08-21T10:16:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T06:16:38","slug":"for-the-first-time-in-the-world-a-python-underwent-electrochemotherapy-to-defeat-a-malignant-tumor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/for-the-first-time-in-the-world-a-python-underwent-electrochemotherapy-to-defeat-a-malignant-tumor\/","title":{"rendered":"For the first time in the world, a python underwent electrochemotherapy to defeat a malignant tumor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"1\"><span class=\"\">Jodie Foster,<\/span><span class=\"\"> a 23-year-old reticulated python living at Chester Zoo,<\/span><span class=\"\"> has become the first snake in the world to undergo electrochemotherapy\u2014an innovative cancer treatment designed for humans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"2\"><span class=\"\">The 4.<\/span><span class=\"\">5-meter-long,<\/span><span class=\"\"> 50-kilogram reptile was diagnosed with a malignant tumor (fibrosarcoma) on her jaw.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Despite surgical resection,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the disease recurred shortly after and began destroying her jawbone.<\/span><span class=\"\"> The bone damage made eating so difficult that her life was at risk.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\"><span class=\"\">Since repeated surgery alone was insufficient,<\/span><span class=\"\"> zoo veterinarians and oncologists from the University of Liverpool decided to adapt electrochemotherapy for snakes.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Due to the python&#8217;s extraordinary size,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the medical team had to push two operating tables together to perform the 90-minute procedure.<\/span><span class=\"\"> During the surgery,<\/span><span class=\"\"> veterinarians removed the tumor mass along with part of the damaged bone before applying electrochemotherapy to target the remaining cancer cells.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\"><span class=\"\">This method combines a chemotherapy drug (bleomycin) with precisely controlled electrical pulses.<\/span><span class=\"\"> The electrical impulses temporarily increase the permeability of the cancer cells,<\/span><span class=\"\"> enabling targeted and highly effective drug penetration into the tissue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\"><span class=\"\">A follow-up examination conducted several months after treatment confirmed no signs of recurrence.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Zoo representatives reported that the python has returned to her usual energetic self and is feeding without difficulty.<\/span><span class=\"\"> The clinical team plans to publish details of this unique procedure in scientific literature so the global veterinary community can apply the innovative technique in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/aug\/21\/python-jodie-foster-snake-cancer-electrochemotherapy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jodie Foster, a 23-year-old reticulated python living at Chester Zoo, has become the first snake in the world to undergo electrochemotherapy\u2014an innovative cancer treatment designed for humans. The 4.5-meter-long, 50-kilogram reptile was diagnosed with a malignant tumor (fibrosarcoma) on her jaw. Despite surgical resection, the disease recurred shortly after and began destroying her jawbone. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1594],"tags":[4879,1891],"class_list":["post-23877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-kibo","tag-simsivne"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23881,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23877\/revisions\/23881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}