News

he incidence of exocrine pancreatic disorders is quite large in both dogs and cats. In a large retrospective study of necropsy findings 1.5% of 9,342 canine and 1.3% of 6,504 feline pancreata showed significant pathological lesions.

Dogs with immune-mediated thrombocytopenia (ITP) usually present with platelet counts low enough to be considered life-threatening, although overt signs of bleeding are uncommon.

Over 90% of the potassium in the body is located within cells. External balance for potassium is maintained by matching output to input.

This session will deal with case examples where blood pressure measurement is indicated. This is meant to be an interactive session with participation of the attendees. Your diagnostic skills will be tested as will your knowledge on blood pressure issues.

The volume and tonicity of body fluids are maintained within a narrow normal range by regulation of sodium and water balance. The volume of extracellular fluid (ECF) is determined by the total body sodium content, whereas the osmolality and sodium concentration of ECF are determined by water balance.

Immune-mediated hemolytic anemia is one of the most common reasons for referral to veterinary internists. The most common presenting complaint is that the patient is inadequately responding to appropriate immunosuppression.

Blood pressure measurement is often not a routine part of small animal practice. This partially has to do with the equipment available to measure blood pressure as well as our patients (they tend not to hold still like we have to).

Leptospirosis may be one of the most under-diagnosed diseases in veterinary medicine. We expect to see the classic triad of clinical disease: acute renal failure, hepatic failure, and intravascular hemolysis (usually low-grade).

Hemorrhage in the gastrointestinal tract may have a number of different pathogenetic mechanisms. Specific therapy for gastrointestinal hemorrhage will depend upon the etiopathogenesis as well as the site of hemorrhage.

The liver is an important organ, responsible for breakdown of nutrients and for the synthesis of many molecules such as albumin, coagulation factors, cholesterol, glucose, and many others. The liver has an enormous regenerative capacity.

IBD has been defined clinically as a spectrum of gastrointestinal disorders associated with chronic inflammation of the stomach, intestine and/or colon of unknown etiology.

Fluid therapy is supportive. The underlying disease process that caused the fluid, electrolyte, and acid-base disturbances must be diagnosed and treated appropriately.

Diarrhea is one of the most common clinical signs of intestinal disease in companion animals and sometimes one of the most frustrating conditions for veterinarians to diagnose and successfully manage.

There is no question that glucocorticoids (GCs) remain the mainstay of immunosuppressive therapy in small animal medicine. However other drugs are available that can be used in conjunction with GCs in order to provide synergistic immunosuppression and thus allow lower GC dosage, more specifically target certain arms of the immune system, and provide proven superior immunosuppression to GCs in a few diseases.

Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) is a syndrome, which is caused by insufficient synthesis and secretion of digestive enzymes by the exocrine portion of the pancreas, leading to insufficient activity of digestive enzymes in the lumen of the small intestine.

Clinical signs of gastrointestinal disease, such as vomiting and diarrhea are extremely common in small animal patients. When seeking advice from a veterinarian pet owners expect accurate diagnosis and definitive therapy of the problem.

In humans, the risk of adverse drug interactions multiplies as the number of administered drugs increases. Interactions can occur during IV drug administration, during oral absorption, at the target site, or during hepatic or renal elimination, and may lead to loss of efficacy or increased toxicity.

Concerns regarding bacterial resistance to antimicrobials are increasing the awareness of rational use in human and veterinary medicine. Successful antimicrobial therapy relies on administering sufficient doses so that pathogens at the site of infection are killed or sufficiently suppressed so that they can be eliminated by the host's immune system.

Inflammation and pain are very common clinical problems in veterinary medicine. Although highly efficacious, use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is not without risks, especially when used in geriatric or debilitated animals. Practitioners need a basic understanding of the action of these drugs in order to appreciate clinical differences between them.

The object of this review is to convey new scientific information and resultant practical techniques applicable to the care of the severely injured patient. One near death, severely injured patient is then briefly presented to exemplify A – airway, B-breathing C- cardiovascilar, D – disability, E – everything else techniques that contributed to her recovery.

Signalment: 6 year old female Rottweiler, Miss Pooples, weighing 40 kg

There is considerable evidence to support the adjustment of drug dosages in human patients with heart failure, hepatic failure, or renal insufficiency. In contrast, similar studies are lacking in dogs and cats. This presentation will discuss veterinary situations in which drug dose adjustments may be warranted.

The goals of this session are to provide some information related to blood types, blood typing, crossmatching, and to relate a few case examples that emphasize the usefulness of knowing what you may be working with.

Shock is the general term used to describe several conditions that lead to inadequate perfusion of the tissues. There are multiple types of shock, but the common derangement in all forms is inadequate delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the cells and inadequate elimination of metabolic byproducts.

Since the pre-analytical phase is by most accounts the most common source of errors related to laboratory testing, this session will focus on some of the more common causes and effects of these errors, and how to avoid them.

Pharmacogenomics is an emerging field studying how genetic differences within a population can cause differences in pharmacology. Usually the genetic change will influence the pharmacokinetics of the drug, through altered drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, or excretion.

Information about veterinary drugs, both new and old, is presented to practitioners on a daily basis. This information is vital to educated and rational use of drugs as clinical conditions change and new situations arise. However, like any competitive industry, veterinary pharmaceutical companies need to market their products in a manner that will influence consumers (the veterinarian) to use them.

With the availability of many over-the-counter NSAID's, and several newer, relatively cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) selective agents marketed for veterinary patients, there are many choices for controlling acute and chronic pain and inflammation. Because patients are often given NSAID's in the presence of concurrent disease and along with other drugs, the potential for NSAID-related organ toxicity and NSAID-associated drug interactions should always be considered.

Drug companies cannot supply labeled drug products to treat every condition in every species, and veterinarians often turn to extra-label drug use (ELDU) to fill these unmet therapeutic needs. A special form of ELDU is compounding medications.

Review the common pathophysiology – Cause – Affect of the reasons cardiopulmonary arrest occurs in clinical practice and then review the current views on basic and advanced cardiac life support and provide my personal views on the subject based on over 35 years of clinical and some years of experimental research experience.