A Treatment Now, A Life Later...

Practising veterinary physician Dr EKTA THAKKAR talks about Charcoal Hemoperfusion, a treatment that promises longevity to your dear pet, and other such new and promising treatments for animals.

- Asmita Munde 

Dr Ekta Thakkar, a young vet in the city, is apparently the only Indian who has brought to Pune advanced methods to treat animals, especially dogs and cats. Awareness about these methods is the need of the hour. Read on to find out more as Dr Thakkar walks us through it…

Tell us about yourself…

I have been practicing veterinary medicine for past six years now. I have done my graduation in veterinary science from Mumbai alongside holding a fourth rank in the State. After the same, I completed my Masters in veterinary clinical medicine with special interest in Nephrology and Hemodialysis; I have also done a couple of externships; one was at Nephrology service AMC, New York, and the other at a small animal internal medicine service, Cornell University, New York. I am certified in Extracorporeal therapies from California, USA.

In India, I have found a lot of lack of awareness in the field of veterinary medicine. The world has advanced way farther from where India is; and I would like to contribute by creating awareness and introducing certain new modalities in treatment of certain diseases in pets. 

‘Extracorporeal therapies’ sounds new; tell us more about it.

Extracorporeal therapy denotes any treatment that takes place outside the body. There are various modalities that fall under these therapies, wherein blood is withdrawn from a patient and treated in different ways before returning it back to the patient. Some of the modalities are Intermittent Hemodialysis (IHD/ HD), CRRT (continuous renal replacement therapy) Charcoal Hemoperfusion, Plasmapheresis and more... 

What is Hemodialysis?