VIN Topic Rounds

 

Are you missing out on clinical rotations because of COVID-19? The VIN Student Team has you covered with Tuesday Topic Rounds.  During the month of August, join Anne Elizabeth Katherman, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Neurology) for 30 minute, case-based sessions every Tuesday at 12pm ET. Everyone and all levels of experience are welcome. There will be time for Q&A and discussion following. The next session is A Pain in the Rear – Lumbo-sacral Intervertebral Disk Disease on August 24, 2021 at 12 ET.

In this rounds:

• Common clinical signs of lumbo-sacral intervertebral disk disease
• Criteria for choosing medical management of lumbo-sacral intervertebral disk disease
• Criteria for recommending surgical management of lumbo-sacral intervertebral disk disease
• How to determine prognosis for recovery from lumbo-sacral intervertebral disk disease

TO JOIN THE SESSION, LOG INTO THE VIN STUDENT CENTER AND CLICK THE GREEN BUTTON IN THE TOP RIGHT

The Veterinary Information Network (VIN) is here to help you as a vet student – especially during this worldwide pandemic. Membership is always free as a student!

VIN Topic Rounds

 

Are you missing out on clinical rotations because of COVID-19? The VIN Student Team has you covered with Tuesday Topic Rounds.  During the month of August, join Anne Elizabeth Katherman, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Neurology) for 30 minute, case-based sessions every Tuesday at 12pm ET. Everyone and all levels of experience are welcome. There will be time for Q&A and discussion following. The next session is A Pain in the Back – Thoraco-lumbar Intervertebral Disk Disease on August 17, 2021 at 12 ET.

In this rounds:

• Common clinical signs of thoraco-lumbar intervertebral disk disease
• Criteria for choosing medical management of thoraco-lumbar intervertebral disk disease
• Criteria for recommending surgical management of thoraco-lumbar intervertebral disk disease
• How to determine prognosis for recovery from thoraco-lumbar intervertebral disk disease

TO JOIN THE SESSION, LOG INTO THE VIN STUDENT CENTER AND CLICK THE GREEN BUTTON IN THE TOP RIGHT

The Veterinary Information Network (VIN) is here to help you as a vet student – especially during this worldwide pandemic. Membership is always free as a student!

VIN Topic Rounds

Are you missing out on clinical rotations because of COVID-19? The VIN Student Team has you covered with Tuesday Topic Rounds.  During the month of August, join Anne Elizabeth Katherman, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Neurology) for 30 minute, case-based sessions every Tuesday at 12pm ET. Everyone and all levels of experience are welcome. There will be time for Q&A and discussion following. The next session is A Pain in the Neck: Cervical Intervertebral Disk Disease on August 10, 2021 at 12 ET.

In this rounds:

• Common clinical signs of cervical intervertebral disk disease
• Criteria for choosing medical management of cervical intervertebral disk disease
• Criteria for recommending surgical management of cervical intervertebral disk disease
• How to determine prognosis for recovery from cervical intervertebral disk disease

TO JOIN THE SESSION, LOG INTO THE VIN STUDENT CENTER AND CLICK THE GREEN BUTTON IN THE TOP RIGHT

The Veterinary Information Network (VIN) is here to help you as a vet student – especially during this worldwide pandemic. Membership is always free as a student!

Case: Cauda Equina Syndrome

Thank you to Thea Madill from St. George's University for sharing not one but TWO great pieces as part of our Cases and Abstracts category!  What a thorough and interesting case work-up - take a look!

A 3-year-old FS Great Dane was presented for orthopedic evaluation to further work-up the complaint of a chronic progressive hind limb weakness. Aside from this weakness, that was more notably reported when walking up and down stairs, she was behaving normal at home. On dynamic evaluation, she had an evidently ataxic gait in the hind limbs, and some urine dribbling was noted but initially thought to be due to excitement. On observation of her hindlimbs, her toenails were significantly shorter and appearing filed down in comparison to the forelimbs. She appeared painful when palpating her vertebrae moving caudally towards her tail and upon palpation of the lumbosacral joint, she let out a loud yelp. She was also painful when her tail was lifted.  At this point in the exam, it became suspicious that she was seeing the wrong department, and was referred to see a neurologist. This long-standing unknown cause of weakness was later diagnosed on MRI as Lumbosacral Stenosis, or Cauda Equina Syndrome. Demonstrated in this MRI T2 weighted image is narrowing of the spinal canal at the level of the lumbosacral articulation.

Adipose Derived Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for IBD in an Adult Cat

Winner - Cases and Abstracts
Aki Otomo, St. George’s University

Cheddar is my 10 year-old Domestic Shorthair feline who I adopted in 2004 after he had sustained severe sacro-iliac trauma from being hit by a car at the age of 14 months. He initially presented with a necrotic tail pull injury, which required a short tail amputation with extensive urinary catheterization post-operatively.

By the age of 4 years, Cheddar exhibited numerous neurogenic issues including constipation, megacolon, urine retention from detrusor areflexia and fecal incontinence with pudendal nerve impingement. In 2011 his megacolon had progressed to a point where a subtotal colectomy was necessary. Subsequent sequelae included surgical dehiscience and septic peritonitis. In addition, his bladder atony became so severe he required a permanent low profile cystostomy tube for 14 months. Chiropractic adjustment, low level laser therapy and acupuncture allowed the removal of the cystostomy tube due to increased conscious voiding on Cheddar’s part, however he retains approximately 35mL of urine post-void. He currently suffers from chronic ascending multi-drug resistant urinary tract infections. 

In December 2012, he was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (lymphactyic plasmacytic) with minimal villous lymphangiectasia and chronic mild gastritis. Initial therapy with diet change and Budesonide proved unsuccessful as his cachexia, weight loss and vomiting continued. Further Prednisone therapy resulted in a bladder wall fistula at his previous bladder pexy surgical site. Therefore, systemic immuno-supressants and steroids were ruled out as an ongoing treatment option for his IBD. After consulting with both his Internist Dr. Katie Baxter (BVSc, ACVIM) and Surgeon Dr. Alan Kuzma (DVM, ACVS), in July 2013, we enrolled Cheddar in Vet Stem’s IBD Developmental Program to use adipose derived adult mesenchymal stem cell therapy to potentially treat his IBD.

Background

Stem cell therapy is a fairly new form of treatment for a variety of diseases. Current clinical data has proven stem cell therapy to be effective for treatment of certain cases of equine osteoarthiritis, degenerative joint disease, osteochondrosis dissecans, ligament and tendon injuries, sub-chondral bone cysts, meniscal injuries and fractures (Nixon et al., 2008). In feline and canine patients, it is used most often for osteoarthirits (Black et al., 2007 and Black et al., 2008), orthopedic soft tissue injury, polyarthiritis and fractures. Although the complete understanding of the physiological mechanisms of stem cells have yet to be completely elucidated, stem cells are thought to promote healing and decrease inflammation and modulate inflammatory immune responses (De La Garza Rodea, 2011). They have the ability to modulate and control inflammatory cytokines and target areas of chronic inflammation (Fiorina et al., 2009) where they can potentially ‘re-set’ the inflammatory response through regeneration of normal cells and cell function (Zuk et al., 2002). Therefore, there is wide spread interest in researching stem cells to cure autoimmune diseases and disorders (Zuk et al., 2001). 

Currently, there are various clinical trials being conducted on the use of stem cell therapy in felines with chronic renal disease with one such high profile trial being conducted at the Animal Medical Center in New York.

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