Abstracts

Introduction to radiosurgery: how does it work?

This one hour course will discuss the technology behind radio surgery as a surgical tool in veterinary practice. It will cover the different waveforms and how they affect the tissue, and specific indications for each waveform. The equipment needed for radio surgery in the veterinary practice will be discussed and presented, to include a new bipolar scissor.

Surgical applications of radiosurgery

These two courses will discuss small animal surgical procedures, such as spaying, neutering, declawing, and lumpectomy that are performed using radio surgery by the speaker. There will be a brief introduction and discussion of some of procedures such as staphylectomy (soft palate resection), total ear canal ablation, incisional gastropexy, and perineal hernia repairs. Photographs of real procedures and videos will be used where appropriate to introduce the attendee to surgical advantages to radio surgery such as improved hemostasis, greater surgical field visibility, and improved technique performance utilizing radio surgery.

A practitioners approach in treating pet skin issues

A practitioners approach for diagnoses and treatment of the common acute and chronic skin diseases regularly seen in the pet will be presented. Emphasis will be made on diagnostic techniques and alternative treatment protocols available to handle skin conditions ranging from normal skin and hair coats to hygienic poor skin to severe skin allergies and diseases to abnormal skin growths. Protocols will be presented to both prevent and treat skin diseases.

A practitioners approach in treating pet ear issues

A practitioners approach for diagnosis and treatment of the common acute and chronic ear diseases regularly seen in the veterinary hospital will be presented. Emphasis will be made on diagnostic techniques and alternative treatment protocols available to handle ear conditions ranging from general care of normal ears to the care of chronic and painful ear diseases. Pragmatic protocols and techniques will be presented first to help the veterinary practitioner better evaluate the affected ear followed with effective multiple treatment options.

Arrhythmias in dogs and cats: diagnosis and treatment

This lecture will focus first on electrocardiographic (ECG) interpretation using an interpretative algorithm. Differentiation between rhythms of sinus origin and rhythms of non-sinus origin (supraventricular and ventricular ectopy) will be discussed. Abnormalities of conduction such as atrioventricular (AV) block and bundle branch blocks (BBBs) will be discussed. Variations in rate and regularity of sinus rhythms will be discussed. ECG examples of common arrhythmias in dogs and cats will be presented, again with discussion regarding interpretation. The ECG portion of the talk will be followed by a discussion centered on the treatment of arrhythmias in dogs and cats. Criteria for treatment will be outlined first. Then antiarrhythmic drugs (sodium channel blockers such as lidocaine and procainamide, β-blockers such as atenolol and esmolol, potassium channel blockers such as sotalol and amiodarone, and calcium channel blockers such as diltiazem), positive chronotropes (methyl xanthines such as terbutaline and theophylline, vagolytics such as hyoscyamine, and sympathomimetics), and pacemaker implantation will be covered. Electrical cardioversion will be briefly presented.

Approach to cardiac disease for the general practitioner

This talk will cover various aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac diseases in dogs and cats. Classic signalment and history for specific diseases will be covered first. Physical exam findings (heart rate and rhythm, heart sounds, murmurs, respiratory rate/ effort and lung sounds, systemic arterial pulses, venous fill) will be discussed next in order to optimize the information gleaned from physical exam. Many heart diseases can be correctly suspected based on signalment, history, and physical exam findings. Tests used to confirm a diagnosis of specific heart diseases will be reviewed, including thoracic radiographs, echocardiogram, and angiography. This section of the talk will concentrate mainly on tests available at many primary practices, with some examples of diagnostic tests available at specialty practices. Finally, medical treatment of the clinical syndromes associated with heart diseases will be covered. Clinical syndromes include heart failure (left and right sided), cardiac tamponade, thromboembolism, and arrhythmias. The section on arrhythmias will not go into depth since this topic will be covered in another talk.

Common cases in small animal cardiology

This talk will cover real-life clinical scenarios that are commonly encountered in small animal veterinary practice (cardiac cases in dogs and cats). Specific case illustrations will be used as a platform to discuss entire cardiac workups from beginning to end. In dogs, examples of case illustrations will include degenerative valve disease, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) or Boxer cardiomyopathy, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), subaortic stenosis (SAS), and pulmonic stenosis (PS). In cats, examples of case illustrations will include hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM). Each case will progress quickly through signalment, history, physical exam, diagnostics, prognosis, and treatment. The lecture will cover the highlights of each case in order to address a number of common diseases, rather than going too far in depth in the coverage of any single case.

Subfertility and infertility in the bitch: The breeding soundness examination (BSE)

For a bitch to successfully deliver a litter she must be able to ovulate normal ova into a patent uterus, have a healthy reproductive tract, encounter normal progressively motile sperm at the time of ovulation and maintain pregnancy for an average of 63 days. When any of these steps fail, owners present to us with the complaint of infertility. A complete breeding soundness examination includes everything from collecting a complete history, reproductive and non-reproductive, to preforming diagnostic procedures such as endometrial biopsies. This presentation will hopefully give the veterinarian a guide to what steps should be taken and what are the probable differential diagnoses that should be considered when investigating a case of infertility or subfertility in an intact bitch.

Subfertility and infertility in the dog: The breeding soundness examination (BSE)

Demonstration of normal fertility in the dog requires that he is able to inseminate a reproductively normal bitch either naturally or by AI with an adequate number of morphologically normal progressively motile sperm, for which he must have a healthy reproductive tract himself. That sperm then has to be able to fertilize the ova and the bitch has to carry to term and deliver live puppies. A complete breeding soundness examination includes everything from collecting a complete history, reproductive and non-reproductive, to preforming diagnostic procedures such as prostate and testicular biopsies. This presentation will give the veterinarian a guide to what steps should be taken and what are the probable differential diagnoses that should be considered when investigating a case of infertility or subfertility in an intact dog.

Current therapy for complications during delivery and in early post-partum

The periparturient period is considered to extend from 1-2 weeks before whelping to 30-45 days post-partum. This period may be extended up to 16 weeks if normal involution is delayed. This period can be associated with high morbility and even mortality to both puppies and the dam, therefore a good grasp of what is normal during the periparturient period is important if we want a litter of healthy puppies at weaning. This presentation intends to review normal perparturient events and problems that may be encountered concentrating on the time of parturition and immediate post-partum. We will review current concepts as well as treatments for the most common complications such as dystocia, sub-involution of placental sites and metritis.