More surgery for Donna, the N.C. Zoo gorilla
Back in December, I wrote about how some (human) gynecologists, including Dr. Gerald Mulvaney of the Greensboro office of the N.C. Center for Reproductive Medicine and a colleague, Dr. Sameh Toma, from the practice's Cary office, performed surgery in November on Donna, a Western Lowland gorilla at the N.C. Zoo who had been suffering from severe vaginal bleeding.
A biopsy from the November procedure found endometrial cancer. So Drs. Mulvaney and Toma, joined by Dr. Fidel Vilea, a gynecologist and cancer specialist from Duke University Medical Center, performed a hysterectomy on Aug. 27. The zoo reports that Donna is doing fine after that surgery.
It is not uncommon for gynecologists to perform surgery on female gorillas because their reproductive systems are so similar to those of humans.
"For years, we have benefited from animal experimentation," Mulvaney said in a statement. "Now we have had the opportunity to give back."
