A dedicated care team at Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine, including experts in dermatology, anesthesia, and radiation oncology, never gave up on a determined baby lamb.
2 min. read
Maeve was never your average lamb, and from the start, Emily Jaramillo, a Class of 2026 student in Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine, was smitten.
But Maeve was also in a great deal of pain when the student met her. The Dorper lamb, orphaned at just a few days old, was afflicted with congenital cutaneous angiomatosis, a rare progressive vascular disorder. It’s characterized by an abnormal proliferation of small blood vessels in and below the skin, as well as bleeding, inflammation, and infection. For an animal like Maeve, it can be a death sentence.
However, the nature of Maeve’s ailment wasn’t immediately known. From the time she was a few weeks old, an ever-growing team of Penn Vet clinicians at both New Bolton Center and Ryan Hospital battled with her many mysterious infections, trying to find a lasting answer. By the time Maeve was about six months old, her care options appeared to have run dry.
Thomas Lee, assistant professor in radiation oncology, lectured about radiation—how it can be used to control bleeding in non-cancerous diseases, as well as with cancer. Something in Jaramillo’s brain clicked. She told Lee about Maeve. Could radiation possibly help her?
Lee considered radiation therapy for Maeve despite the rarity of the condition. While no reports described its use in sheep, the veterinary literature included two canine cases of angiomatosis that responded to radiation, providing a rationale for its consideration.
The treatment plan “required a lot of moving parts,” says Christine Cain, associate professor of dermatology and a principal member of Maeve’s care team. “There was a whole Maeve team involved—everyone from anesthesia to radiation oncology.” The radiation would be done at Ryan Hospital, which usually doesn’t treat ruminants. ICU had to be involved in case Maeve had difficulty with anesthesia. The plan was to give Maeve four radiation treatments, beginning early November and ending the day before Thanksgiving. No one knew if they would succeed.
Lee prescribed her a lower radiation dose than for cancer but higher than for other noncancerous conditions. The dosage he prescribed was intended to collapse abnormal vascularization without significant side effects.
To boost Maeve’s odds even more, Lee created a resin bolus using a 3D printer that would fit over Maeve’s angiomatosis area. The purpose of the bolus was to allow the radiation to concentrate on the diseased area and lower the dose to deeper, normal tissue. Plus, Lee said a 3D-printed bolus could improve accuracy compared to a conventional bolus.
On treatment days, Team Maeve was out in force. In addition to Lee and his radiation team, there were Maeve’s New Bolton Center clinicians, residents who had assisted in her care, dermatologist Cain, anesthesiology experts, and a host of nurses. Even Jaramillo pitched in.
“I think we may be able to see some improvement within a couple weeks,” said Lee prior to the first treatment. “If it works, it will keep getting better.”
Shortly after the second treatment, Maeve showed improvement. She was walking better. The skin on her right leg looked less angry.
Lee offered a caution: it’s still unknown how long Maeve’s improvements will last. If the angiomatosis remains under control for at least six months to a year but then flares up, more radiation may be considered, he said.
But with four months since her last treatment, Maeve was moving friskily toward her first birthday, and there seemed to be room for positive feelings.
This story is by Rita Giordano. Read more at Penn Vet News.
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