Page 3 - Clinical Connections - Spring 2020

Letter from the editor
Welcome to our spring issue of Clinical Connections. As the flowers and blossom of spring consign the cold and stormy days of the winter to history, fresh shoots of progress are
appearing amid the drilling rigs, trenches and girders on our Hawkshead Campus, which appeared last year to enable our extensive development project.
One aspect of the development can be likened to a tree, in that it will sustain and enhance life – not just the lifeforce of scientific endeavour but animals themselves, wherever they may be.TheVeterinaryVaccinology and CellTherapy Hub, which is due to open this year, will contain laboratories and an incubator for small businesses.
In our cover article, by Professor Dirk Werling, you can hear about some of the research facilities on the campus that have already been revamped, and which will lay the foundations
of new treatment strategies by progressing basic and clinical science.
Another fresh shoot, that could potentially lead to new treatments, is highlighted in our article on Page 5 about
a preliminary trial of a potential combination therapy for canine spinal cord injury.The trial involves taking olfactory ensheathing cells from the dog’s nose, modifying them to produce chondroitinase ABC and injecting them into the spinal cord to promote neuroregeneration processes.
Page 6 has news from the Ophthalmology Service about corneal cross-linking, which can improve the quality of life for the patients by improving the visual outcome and reducing their time in hospital. It can also help efforts to decrease veterinary antibiotic use.
Another advance is discussed on Page 7, in an article by Nicola Menzies-Gow.That piece outlines RVC research that has led to advances in the identification of equidae at increased risk of endocrinopathic laminitis.
On Page 8 we touch on an ongoing contentious issue – how best to manage a dog with pituitary-dependent Cushing’s syndrome. By now I am sure most of you are aware we are offering correction of the underlying problem by selective hypophysectomy, ensuring the offending adenohypophysis is removed.The trouble with this option is the procedure itself and the patient’s perioperative management mean, rightly or wrongly, it is not for everyone. However, data generated by the RVC’s VetCompass initiative clearly indicates that, as a profession, we need to do more than simply try and manage these cases using trilostane applied through recommended
“One aspect of the development can be likened to a tree, in that
it will sustain and enhance life – not just the lifeforce of scientific endeavour but animals themselves, wherever they may be.”
protocols.Therefore, make sure you take a look at this article to gain a different perspective on managing pituitary-dependent Cushing’s syndrome.
Articles on Page 9 and 10 span ways in which new technology, coupled with expertise, can bring about progress in both clinical care and research. A new anaesthesia monitor enables our small animal referral patients to be monitored more easily while under anaesthesia, including during CT scans, when clinical staff cannot be in the room with the patient.The technology enables total scanning time to be reduced because interruptions to re-adjust settings or to check on the patient are reduced.
The Page 10 article by Jonathan Williams covers the benefits of our new digital pathology platform to patients, research and teaching on our undergraduate programmes, as well as to our postgraduate residency programme.
With all the advances in veterinary practice and scientific research we, as a profession, are party to, it is important to bring clients along with us on this complex journey as much
as we can. Nadene Stapleton’s article on Page 4, about rabbit vaccination concerns, is a salient reminder that misconceptions and fears need to be constantly addressed, as our human medicine colleagues are having to in relation to childhood vaccination.
Professor David Church, Deputy Principal and Acting Vice Principal (Clinical Affairs)
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