TVMDL
SUNDAY, March 7, 2010 • 8am-12:30pm
8am-9am What Do Diagnostics Really Tell Us?
Speaker: Alfonso Clavijo, PhD
Veterinarians work to maintain and enhance health, productivity and well-being of all animals and to prevent relieve animal suffering. In order to fulfill these duties, veterinarians must be able to diagnose disease or production problems and identify possible causes. Diagnostic tests are a powerful tool in a veterinarian’s arsenal that can be used to enhance treatment and care. Diagnostic test results can be a powerful aid in helping the practitioner make an accurate diagnosis and ultimately determine the best course of treatment.
During this presentation, attendees will learn how diagnostic tests can assist in reducing uncertainty, further understand the use of diagnostic tests and explore the evaluation of test performance (including the properties of the diagnostic test). Test performance and interpretation at the individual and herd level will also be discussed.
Also key to correct diagnostic testing results is sample submission. Attendees in this session will learn the most current and preferred methods of sample collection and submission that yield the best diagnostic test results from TVMDL.
9am-10am The Mystery of Toxicology
Speaker: Tam Garland, DVM, PhD
Toxicology is a daunting mountain looming before the practitioner who is faced with a multitude of choices. This Diagnostic Lab is the CSI for animals, but it takes teamwork to make it look Hollywood easy.
This session will teach practitioners about the best samples for different tests, what plants we should be concerned about, and what parts of certain plants are toxic. Learn about the best method to submit your plants for identification and tests and hear about the clinical signs for different types of toxicity.
TVMDL’s Toxicology Section can provide services to help clients understand pharmacologically active agents so that they may more accurately access and treat patients. Learn how to make TVMDL an extension of your practice. Together we can operate as a seamless team to provide practitioners with answers to take the mystery out of toxicology.
10:30am-11:15am Diagnostic Endocrinology
Speaker: Scott Jaques, PhD
Professionals in TVMDL’s Diagnostic Endocrinology Lab are participating in several research projects at Texas A&M University and around the country involving hypothyroidism in canines. The focus of this research is the development of a recombinant canine TSH product to aid in the diagnosis of hypothyroidism.
Diagnosing canine hypothyroidism can be difficult and there are several ways a practitioner can determine hypothyroidism. Several thyroid tests, including T3, Free T4, Free T4 by dialysis, TSH and TgAA, can be used to aid in diagnosis. However, there are instances where the clinical symptoms do not meet the endocrine diagnosis and vice versa.
In most cases, the best battery-of-tests to use are T4, Free T4 and TSH. These can be limiting in some respects due to thyroid like molecules being produced which can give a false sense of normalcy or even elevation with respect to T4 and in some cases Free T4. Most clinicians opt to not test for T3. T3 usually rises (above normal) in a small percentage of cases when animals have other normal endocrine parameters for the thyroid. The clinical symptoms suggest hypothyroidism, but most of the endocrine tests do not support except an elevation in T3. Albeit not 100%, it would be unusual for some other etiology to manifesting itself with an elevated T3 along with hypothyroid symptoms.
Is there an alternative? Yes, the TSH stimulation test, which as the “gold standard” of testing in the past. With limitations and the inability to obtain bovine pituitary derived TSH as a pharmacologic agent for use in the canine, it has not been widely used. Will there be a future for canine TSH stimulation test? As we pursue a recombinant source of canine TSH, the future looks as though the “gold standard” will be in vogue.
11:30am-12:15pm Diagnostic Technologies for Veterinary Laboratories of the Future
Speaker: Tammy Beckham, DVM, PhD (Executive Director, TVMDL)
Veterinary diagnostic laboratories of the future will be challenged to provide rapid, accurate diagnostics that are capable of detecting and identifying endemic, emerging, and re-emerging diseases. Over the past two decades, there has been substantial growth in new diagnostic technologies that will provide the veterinary practitioner more accurate, specific diagnostic testing results in a timely fashion. For example, there has been substantial growth in molecular diagnostic capabilities within many of the State Veterinary Laboratories. More specifically, conventional PCR, real time PCR and sequence analysis have become routine tools used to detect and characterize isolates from animals with clinical signs of disease.
These new technologies, and many others that are being developed, will provide the veterinary community with tools to effectively aid in the diagnosis of illness and disease affecting the companion animal and agricultural industries of Texas and beyond. New equipment, processes and testing capabilities on the horizon are sure to increase the capacity and knowledge gained from our veterinary diagnostic test results. This session will highlight emerging diagnostic assays and technologies. It will provide the practitioner with a glimpse of the capabilities of these technologies and highlight their potential for use in daily practice.
