Doctors ease breathing for Hogle Zoo monkey

U. sinus specialist says the formerly miserable primate will now have a "better quality of life."

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Forensics experts investigate crime scene on the north side parking lot of Work Force Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman with a knife in a brown SUV Thursday morning December 20.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Unified Police investigate a crime scene on the north side parking lot of Workforce Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman in a brown SUV.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Unified Police Sheriff Jim Winder makes a statement at a crime scene on the north side parking lot of Workforce Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman in a brown SUV.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Unified Police investigate a crime scene on the north side parking lot of Workforce Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman in a brown SUV.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Forensics experts investigate crime scene on the north side parking lot of Work Force Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman with a knife in a brown SUV Thursday morning December 20.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Forensics experts investigate crime scene on the north side parking lot of Work Force Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman with a knife in a brown SUV Thursday morning December 20.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, performs an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, performs an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. An image on the monitor at left shows the view of the monkey's infected sinus from an endospcopic camera.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, performs an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. An image on the monitor at left shows the view of the monkey's infected sinus from the endospcopic camera.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, right, performs an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, speaks outside the operating room after performing an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey who underwent a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. It was his first time operating on a monkey but monkey sinuses are similar to a human's and he said the procedure went well.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, left, performs an endoscopic procedure, as Dr. Erika Crook, associate veterinarian, checks Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, left, performs an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Eli, a black howler monkey, is under anesthesia and prepped for his sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. Ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Richard Orlandi from the University of Utah School of Medicine, performed the endoscopic procedure. Several weeks ago, Eli developed thick white nasal discharge that didn't respond to treatment.

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune
Eli, a black howler monkey, is under anesthesia and prepped for his sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. Ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Richard Orlandi from the University of Utah School of Medicine, performed the endoscopic procedure.

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Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Forensics experts investigate crime scene on the north side parking lot of Work Force Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman with a knife in a brown SUV Thursday morning December 20. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Unified Police investigate a crime scene on the north side parking lot of Workforce Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman in a brown SUV. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Unified Police Sheriff Jim Winder makes a statement at a crime scene on the north side parking lot of Workforce Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman in a brown SUV. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Unified Police investigate a crime scene on the north side parking lot of Workforce Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman in a brown SUV. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Forensics experts investigate crime scene on the north side parking lot of Work Force Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman with a knife in a brown SUV Thursday morning December 20. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Forensics experts investigate crime scene on the north side parking lot of Work Force Services at 5680 South Redwood Road where a Unified police officer shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman with a knife in a brown SUV Thursday morning December 20. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, performs an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, performs an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. An image on the monitor at left shows the view of the monkey's infected sinus from an endospcopic camera. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, performs an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. An image on the monitor at left shows the view of the monkey's infected sinus from the endospcopic camera. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, right, performs an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, speaks outside the operating room after performing an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey who underwent a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. It was his first time operating on a monkey but monkey sinuses are similar to a human's and he said the procedure went well. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, left, performs an endoscopic procedure, as Dr. Erika Crook, associate veterinarian, checks Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Dr. Richard Orlandi, ear, nose and throat specialist from the University of Utah School of Medicine, left, performs an endoscopic procedure on Eli, a black howler monkey undergoing a sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Eli, a black howler monkey, is under anesthesia and prepped for his sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. Ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Richard Orlandi from the University of Utah School of Medicine, performed the endoscopic procedure. Several weeks ago, Eli developed thick white nasal discharge that didn't respond to treatment. Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Eli, a black howler monkey, is under anesthesia and prepped for his sinus operation at L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center at Hogle Zoo Tuesday, Dec. 18. Ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Richard Orlandi from the University of Utah School of Medicine, performed the endoscopic procedure.

By Mike Gorrell The Salt Lake Tribune

· December 19, 2012 8:03 am

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

When it became clear that sinus problems were making life miserable for Eli, a 15-year-old howler monkey at Utah's Hogle Zoo, a decision was made to bring in the best medical talent around to treat him.

And so on Tuesday, tiny scopes were placed into each of Eli's nostrils by a team of doctors, Nancy Carpenter and Erika Crook from the zoo and Richard Orlandi, a professor of surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine described as the only fellowship-trained nasal and sinus specialist in the Intermountain West.

In an endoscopic procedure at the zoo's L.S. Skaggs Animal Health Center, they inserted 2.7-millimeter scopes into each of Eli's nostrils, enabling them to "see the nasal passages and sinuses as they are flushed and cleaned," said zoo spokeswoman Erica Hansen.

"It's all to provide Eli a better quality of life," Orlandi said.

He said Tuesday marked his first time operating on a monkey, but monkey sinuses are similar to a human's and he said the procedure went well.

Zookeepers noted a couple of months ago that Eli had developed a frequent cough and a thick, white nasal discharge that would not respond to treatment. A CT scan showed the howler monkey had pockets of mucus and severe sinusitis, Hansen said.

mgorrell@sltrib.com