Colorado doctors and nurses accustomed to saving people pitched in to rescue an evolutionary cousin at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs this month.
Rafiki, the zoo's 25-year-old gorilla, is recuperating from a potentially deadly infection in his right inner and middle ear and the surrounding bone.
Doctors, technicians and hospitals donated their time and equipment, Sean Anglum, a spokesman for the zoo, said Wednesday.
"Everyone volunteered," Anglum said. "Memorial Hospital donated its equipment. All of the doctors, nurses and technicians volunteered. Rocky Mountain Cancer Center provided the CT scan. It's an amazing story — to save a gorilla's life."
Early this month, Cheyenne Mountain's veterinary staff realized the male silverback lowland gorilla suffered from headaches and appetite loss, and a CT scan would have to find the cause.
Denver-based Rocky Mountain Cancer Center delivered its mobile unit aboard a tractor-trailer to scan the 450-pound great ape.
Colorado Springs anesthesiologist John Marta put Rafiki under.
Veterinary radiologist Jason Arble worked with Tanweer Khan and Jack Adams, a radiologist and a neurologist, respectively, for humans.
They determined emergency surgery was critical to drain the infection and relieve pressure on Rafiki's brain.
Joseph Hegarty, an ear surgeon from Colorado Springs who does the same surgery on humans about five times a week, operated on the ape Sept. 5, according to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs loaned a surgical microscope for the procedure, and a group of surgical nurses from the hospital pitched in.
Five days later, many of the team members worked together again, this time on a second CT scan, cleansing the incision site and ensuring the infection was gone from Rafiki's right eardrum.
With his response to daily antibiotics, Rafiki is making a full recovery, the zoo said Wednesday.
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