Friday, October 12, 2012

Anthony Johnson, DVM, DACVECC (1.2 CE)

The aim of this session is to highlight ten aspects of emergency veterinary medicine Dr. Johnson finds to be vexing. These are ten points that he has to constantly remind himself of when dealing with patients. This session provides veterinarians with information he wishes he had when starting out in emergency medicine.

Douglas Thamm, VMD, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

Often, the primary clinician may be the veterinarian making a diagnosis of cancer in a pet and performing the initial client education regarding their pet’s disease. Critically important life-or-death decisions regarding euthanasia, treatment and choice to pursue referral may be made based on information the owner receives from their primary veterinarian. There is still a great stigma attached to a diagnosis of cancer, and it is natural for owners of pets with cancer to anthropomorphize and equate cancer treatment in animals with experiences they may have had with treatment of themselves, their friends or family members. Being able to succinctly address these concerns and “dispel” some of the myths owners may have, the subject of this lecture is a critical component of cancer management in the primary care setting.

Anthony Johnson, DVM, DACVECC (1.2 CE)

When managing cardiac failure in the emergency setting, veterinarians are often dealing with the management of syndromes and symptoms without necessarily knowing the cause. The management of cardiac syndromes will be discussed, along with a brief review of their causes and therapy.

Douglas Thamm, VMD, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

Most chemotherapy protocols in veterinary use are designed to have a low risk of adverse effects. However, adverse effects can and do occur in a small percentage. Even in practices where chemotherapy is not administered, referring and emergency/critical care practices are often called upon to deal with adverse effects resulting from cancer therapy that may have been administered elsewhere. Having a protocol in place for the treatment of these patients dramatically increases the likelihood of a good outcome should a serious adverse event be encountered. This hour will discuss the basics of chemotherapy side effect treatment in small animals.

Anthony Johnson, DVM, DACVECC (1.2 CE)

Hepatic failure is a common entity in emergency medicine and presents unique challenges in terms of diagnosis and therapy. This session will cover therapeutic options for dealing with the most common complications seen in association with hepatic failure. Coagulopathy, hepatic encephalopathy, general supportive measures and nutritional support will be discussed.

Douglas Thamm, VMD, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

Mast cell tumors (MCT) are extremely common in small animal practice, and are characterized by a very wide variation in biology and behavior. However, 70 percent of canine MCT can be effectively treated with surgery alone, and a relatively straightforward algorithm can be used to appropriately treat the vast majority of MCT encountered in practice. This lecture will cover the basics of diagnostic tests, staging, and surgical, medical and radiation-based approaches for canine MCT treatment.

Anthony Johnson, DVM, DACVECC (1.2 CE)

As veterinarians, we not only have a moral obligation to treat our patients in pain, but controlling pain can help avoid some of the negative physiological effects. The purpose of this session is to assist the clinician in the management of acute pain in veterinary patients.

Douglas Thamm, VMD, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), cell signaling molecules on the surface of cancer cells, are one of the most common targets for new human cancer therapeutics. Recently, two RTKs inhibiting drugs, Palladia and Kinavet, have been approved for the treatment of canine cancer, and more may be on the way. This hour will discuss the biology and function of RTKs, what is known about their importance in canine cancer, and the data regarding safety and effectiveness of Palladia and Kinavet.

Anthony Johnson, DVM, DACVECC (1.2 CE)

Critical veterinary patients are predisposed to drug-drug interactions (DDI) because of the complexity of drug regimens in ICU and the number of medications used in critical patients. This session discusses some of the main interaction and offers resources for clinicians to avoid serious interactions.

Douglas Thamm, VMD, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

The last few years have brought some interesting and novel discoveries with regard to the diagnosis and prognosis of lymphoma in pets. This hour will discuss the basics of lymphoma diagnosis and staging, and clinical applications of new diagnostic techniques including flow cytometry, PCR for antigen receptor rearrangement, serum thymidine kinase, and multiple novel prognostic factors including MHC class II and survivin expression.

Anthony Johnson, DVM, DACVECC (1.2 CE)

Prevention of ARF is often overlooked as a means of reducing morbidity and mortality. Fluid therapy is the starting point and is common to the treatment of all cases of ARF, whether severe or mild, naturally occurring or iatrogenic. This session will explore causes of ARF as well as discuss current treatment options.

Douglas Thamm, VMD, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

There have been a variety of changes and updates to the treatment of canine and feline lymphoma over the past few years which are worthy of note. Topics to be covered will include the use of “maintenance” chemotherapy, the utility of asparaginase, practical cyclophosphamide administration, rescue drugs and protocols for canine lymphoma, treatment of “low-grade” or indolent canine and feline lymphoma, and future directions for lymphoma therapy in pets.

Sébastien Buczinski, DVM, MSc, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

Practical discussion on common artifacts and ultrasonographic setting will be reviewed. The practical application of umbilical ultrasound and teat ultrasonography will be discussed emphasizing the diagnostic and prognostic use of ultrasonography as an on-farm practical test.

Jonathan Foreman, DVM, MS, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

Chronic weight loss and abdominal distension are two commonly-encountered problems in equine practice. This session will discuss common causes and diagnostic plans.

Sébastien Buczinski, DVM, MSc, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

For every abdominal structure, the normal ultrasonographic appearance will be showed. The ultrasonographic aspect of major diseases will be discussed, as well as the practical importance of ultrasonography as an on-farm ancillary test.

Jonathan Foreman, DVM, MS, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

Cardiology is one of the most mysterious areas of expertise for large animal practitioners. This session will review the basics of equine cardiology, including the most common murmurs and arrhythmias.

Sébastien Buczinski, DVM, MSc, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

After reviewing the ultrasonographic technique, normal appearance of the lungs, pleura, heart and urinary tracts the ultrasonographic aspects of the most common diseases will be discussed. The practical application of ultrasonography in these diseases’ management will then be discussed.

Jonathan Foreman, DVM, MS, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

Neurology is one of the most mysterious areas of expertise for large animal practitioners. This session will review the basics of equine neurology, including a few of the most common diseases and potential treatments.

Don Höglund, DVM (1.2 CE)

Veterinarians are uniquely positioned in the animal community to reinforce the science and practicality of safe, efficient dairy cattle handling and low-stress cattle behavior management of humans and animals. There are many potential positive effects of low-stress stockmanship training on dairy worker job performance, attitude and employment longevity. Dairy veterinarians are frequently involved in on-farm training programs for dairy owners and their employees. Delivering effective training programs for dairy workers is a valuable production medicine and stockmanship safety service to offer to the dairy agriculture sector.

Jonathan Foreman, DVM, MS, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

Healthy looking horses are often not capable of doing the work assigned to them. This session will describe a body systems approach to the diagnosis and treatment of exercise intolerance.

Don Höglund, DVM (1.2 CE)

Every interaction between humans and cattle shapes the future behavior of those cattle. The handler must be aware of his/her actions and realize the importance of their impact on the cattle. Their actions must be generated and sculpted to produce the desired reaction from the cow. The handler adjusts his/her movements to whatever that cow needs in order to obtain the desired results.

Jonathan Foreman, DVM, MS, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

Exercising horses can sometimes become overheated. This session will review the major thermoregulatory mechanisms in the horse and the management and prevention of heat stress in horses.

Don Höglund, DVM (1.2 CE)

Handling young cattle most efficiently and with least stress to the animals and handlers is both an art and a science. When working with animals, some people have an intuitive “feel” for how the animals will react to certain human actions. Like a gifted artist who quickly “sees” the relationships of color, line and dimension, a good stockman readily picks up on the way cattle react, and fine-tunes his/her actions to achieve the desired results. Most of us are not gifted artists, however, and can learn the finer points of low-stress stockmanship from more experienced “artists” whose techniques have evolved through trial and error practice and/or science-based concepts of animal behavior.

Jonathan Foreman, DVM, MS, DACVIM (1.2 CE)

Lameness is the most common cause of lost training time in horses. This session will review common and more recently developed methods of treating musculoskeletal pain in horses.

Sébastien Buczinski, DVM, MSc, DACVIM (3 CE)
Sponsored by EI Medical Imaging

This hands-on wetlab will provide to the attendees a comprehensive approach of non-reproductive ultrasound. At the end of this lab, the veterinary practitioner will be familiar with the different techniques to screen the different organs of interest in cows and calves including (but not limited to) the umbilicus, the teat and udder, the lungs, the reticulum, the abomasum, as well as the liver and the kidneys.