Orion a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle and the last of our in-house 2008 cold stunned animals made its way back into the Atlantic Ocean yesterday.

The last CT scan on the turtle showed improvement to the lung which had a severe pneumonia. Orion has been eating and swimming well for awhile. After a final exam the turtle was deemed able to be released.

With the colder months approaching, we decided to bring Orion a little further south than the others that we released at the end of August. So we loaded the turtle up early yesterday morning and drove down to Long Island to release Orion back into the Atlantic Ocean. This will give Orion a slight advantage over Goose who, at this time, is getting closer to leaving Long Island Sound and Orion should be in about the same area as the other Ridleys we released from Dowse's Beach.

We were able to release the turtle with the help of our colleagues at The Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation. We helped kick off their beach cleaning effort on International Beach Cleanup Day at Ponqougue Beach in Hampton Bays.

Labels: Cross Sound Ferry, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, release, Riverhead Foundation

Currently we still have six sea turtles here in the Rescue and Rehabilitation department. You might know these turtles already, and if you don't follow the link to read all the posts about them.

Labels: Bubba, Cape Cod Bay, Casper, Dash, Goose, Hideaway, Iceman, laceration, Orion, physical therapy, Route, Sea Turtle Recovery Room, treadmill, University of New England

This is an update on our Kemp's ridley turtle named Orion (Click here for all posts about Orion). Orion developed pneumonia several months ago. I am happy to report that Orion is getting better. This week Orion went for another CT scan to recheck his lungs. His right lung is still not normal, but it is improving, and we think that the infection is gone. We stopped his antibiotics yesterday, and we will monitor him carefully over the next few weeks. He will have one more CT scan in June. If that looks good we will make plans to release him this summer. Thanks to the staff at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine for helping with Orion's CT scan!

In this image, his right lung is on your left. The lungs are the darker areas just below the top of the shell. You can see that the right lung has some white streaks in it, which indicates thickening of the tissue in response to pneumonia.

-Dr. Innis

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Labels: Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, pneumonia

Bubba getting ready for the bronchoscopy

We have received some optimistic news on two of the Kemp's ridley sea turtles. Lab results for Bubba have come back negative for bacteria. We are still waiting for fungal results. And...


Orion swimming

Orion had radiographs last week the x-ray shows that the area of consolidation is shrinking and air is returning to those healing sections of the lung.

-Adam

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Labels: Bronchoscopy, Bubba, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, radiograph, x-ray

We recently received the results back for Orion our only Kemp's ridley that is still in the Aquarium Medical Center. The biopsy samples that were sent out all have come back negative for bacteria and fungal infection. The diagnosis from the lab is Granulomatous and heterophilic pneumonia. (Video of the biopsy is here. Description of the biopsy is here. Dr. Innis' first post about Orion is here.)






So what does that mean? In layman's terms Dr. Innis describes the biopsy of the lung as inflammation and nodules of scar tissue due to a previous infection. We will continue with our current medication regime and have another CT scan done in about a month.











Clinically this turtle is doing pretty good. The turtle's appetite has increased and is starting to dive for food and it is less dependent on being fed off of tongs. It is also resting on the bottom of the tank more often. These are very encouraging signs to us.




-Adam

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Labels: Adam, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, pneumonia

An endoscope is used to view Orion's lung.

Labels: Adam, biopsy, operation, Orion, pneumonia, Video

This is an update on Orion, the Kemp's ridley sea turtle with pneumonia. I last reported about Orion in January. I am happy to say that Orion began to feel better after starting nebulizer treatment, injecatble antibiotics and oral antifungal medication. He is now eating well and swimming normally.



However, we began to notice that the back end of his right lung looked more abnormal on x-rays. In this x-ray you can see that the back part of the right lung is whiter than it should be (I have have put an arrow there so you know where to look).


(Click image to enlarge.)

It is conventional to view the x-ray as if you are looking at the turtle from the bottom. So his right side is on your left, and his left side is on your right.

The x-ray indicates that there is abnormal tissue in that part of the lung. We call this "consolidation," and it could mean that there is still an area of infection, or it could just be dense scar tissue that formed after the original infection had resolved. To further investigate this area, Orion had a computerized tomography (CT) scan at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.


Orion gets a CT scan with the help of Tufts staff. (Click to enlarge.)

The first CT image shows Orion as if you are looking at him from the front, and again his right is on your left, and his left is on your right. The first image shows the normal front part of the lungs, which are the two dark areas in the top of his body:


Normal lung (Click to Enlarge)

The second image shows the consolidated (white) right lung, compared to the normal (black) air-filled left lung:


Abnormal lung (Click to enlarge.)

Based on results of the CT scan, we decided to perform a lung biopsy on March 4 to determine whether there was still infection within the consolidated tissue. We used measurements from the CT scan to determine the precise location for the biopsy. Because the lung is just below the top shell or carapace, we can biopsy the lung by making a small hole through the shell, and inserting instruments into the lung.


Orion is anesthetized and a hole is made in the shell
(Click photos to enlarge)


Orion was put under anesthesia, then had a small hole (5 mm diameter) drilled through the shell. We then penetrated the lung to take a swab to test for bacteria and fungus.

Then, we inserted an endoscope into the lung.



A sample of Orion's lung is taken (left) and an endoscope takes images of the lung (right).
(Click photos to enlarge)

The endoscope has a camera that allows us to view the inside of the lung on a video screen:


This photo shows a close up image inside the lung, as seen using the scope.



There are several small brown nodules in the lung (arrows are pointing to the nodules) which may be areas of current or past infection. The scope also has ports through which we can introduce instruments to take tissue samples or biopsies.

Here you can see some of the tissue that we collected:



When the surgery was done, we sealed the hole with antibiotic paste, a small bandage, and waterproof epoxy:




We will remove the patch in a few weeks to see if it is healing OK. Orion recovered quickly from surgery and was back in his pool swimming happily by the end of the day.

The tissue biopsies have been sent to a lab for microscopic analysis (histopathology). This will allow us to see whether there is bacteria, fungus or other abnormal cellls. So far the culture tests have not found any evidence of infection. Orion can be seen on display in our Aquarium Medical Center. In fact, the entire surgery was perfromed on display in the Medical Center. So stop by to visit. You never know what cool stuff you might get to see!

Thanks to the staff at Tufts for assisting with Orion's CT scan.

- Dr. Innis

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Labels: CT scan, Dr. Innis, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, x-ray

We are very worried about one of our Kemp's ridley turtles, Orion. Orion was admitted to the hospital on December 5 after being found stranded on a Cape Cod beach. He was affected by hypothermia, or cold-stunning. His condition improved over the first few weeks at the New England Aquarium, but we have recently found that he has pneumonia. Pneumonia, or infection of the lungs, is common in stranded sea turtles because they have a weakened immune system, and they sometimes inhale sea water as they are washed up on the beach. We are treating Orion aggressively with intravenous and intramuscular antibiotics, oral antifungal medication, and with nebulized antibiotics and antifungal medication.

This photo (courtesy of Rehab team member Adam Kennedy) shows the nebulizer treatment. The box is covered when the treatment is performed to keep the medicated mist within the box. The medicated mist will hopefully get into Orion's lungs when he breathes.

This photo photo shows a microscopic image of fluid we recently collected from his lungs. The large purple cells on the right side of the picture are epithelial cells from the lung. The small purplish dots all over the picture are bacteria. The bluish, segmented, straight structures in the middle of the image are called fungal hyphae, which are fungus cells.

Such pneumonia cases can be fatal for sea turtles. We had one piece of goood news yesterday when Orion ate a crab! I will keep you informed of his condition. We are awaiting some lab tests to identify the types of bacteria and fungus that are present, and to determine which drugs will best kill the bacteria and fungus.

- Dr. Innis

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Labels: Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, pneumonia