An Ohio State cancer doctor took an unusual trip to the zoo, performing successful surgery on a gorilla. Soon after the veterinarians at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium discovered the tumor in Shaila, a 19-year-old gorilla, they contacted Allan Tsung, MD, director of surgical oncology at the OSUCCC – James and a specialist in liver, bile duct and pancreatic cancer. “I thought it was a practical joke from one of my friends,” Tsung says of his reaction to the message. After verifying that the request was legitimate, Tsung quickly signed on to perform the life-saving surgery. “The liver of a gorilla is almost identical [to a human liver] in terms of blood vessels and bile ducts and the size,” Tsung says, adding that the surgery was a joint effort between his James surgical team and the skilled veterinarians at the zoo. Tsung shares more details about Shailia’s surgery on our Cancer-Free World Podcast. Listen via the video player above or on SoundCloud. “I was very nervous, and the last thing I wanted was a bad outcome,” says Tsung, whose strategy was to think of Shaila as a human patient. “Besides cutting through the skin, which is much thicker than human skin, everything was similar to a human patient.” The approach of Tsung and his team paid off with successful surgery for their unusual patient. “The tumor was self-contained, so we were able to remove it entirely,” Tsung says. While the surgery was similar to a human procedure, the recovery period was a little different, due to the need to return Shailia to her fellow gorillas. “The longer you keep them away from their families, the more nervous, anxious and disruptive they can get,” Tsung says. “They watched her closely overnight, but then they had to put her back with the rest of the gorillas.” Shailia returned to her family with a new look, thanks to a trick used by zoo vets that keeps gorillas from picking at their surgical wounds. “They painted her fingernails bright colors — pink and purple — so when she goes to pick at the wound, she’ll be distracted by her fingernails,” Tsung says.