| |
What's New At Atlantic Coast Vet:
Urethroplasty Study For Cases Of
Canine Sphincter Incontinence
Atlantic Coast Veterinary Specialists has completed a pilot study of urethroplasty treatment for urinary incontinence and is currently enrolling patients into an expanded clinical trial.
Candidates for this study include female dogs diagnosed with urinary incontinence due to intrinsic sphincter deficiency that have been treated with DES or PPA and continue to have clinical signs. During the enrollment period, there will be no cost to your clients for the pre-treatment evaluation, the urethroplasty procedure, and any required follow-up examinations.
Urinary incontinence in dogs can occur due to multiple reasons, including neurological, anatomical, behavioral, and hormonal abnormalities. Mechanisms include decreased or increased urethral sphincter constriction, detrusor muscle instability, and anatomical changes. Of these, the most common is decreased urethral sphincter constriction in spayed female dogs secondary to hormonal derangements.
As you know, medical management includes DES (diethylstilbestrol) and PPA (phenylpropanolamine) among others pharmacological agents. These two are the most common and are usually effective. However, a percentage of these cases do not fully respond to any of these medications resulting in perpetuation of clinical signs and a decreased quality of life. In some cases, pets end up being euthanized due to the severity of clinical signs.
Atlantic Coast Veterinary Specialists is currently undergoing a study involving the usage of a silicone bulking agent. This material is injected strategically into the urethral walls in order to decrease the lumen of the urethra and potentially eliminate the clinical signs. The material used is an injectable soft tissue bulking agent which has been used to treat urinary stress incontinence due to intrinsic sphincter deficiency in women. The agent is made up of two parts: the water-soluble gel (polyvinylpyrrolidone) that is absorbed and removed from the body in urine, and a silicone elastomer implant material (cross-linked polydimethylsiloxane) that is permanent and not absorbed by the body. The silicone material causes the bulking effect around the urethra after implantation.
The procedure is done under general anesthesia through cystoscopy. Once the cranial urethra is visualized, three injections of the material are strategically placed decreasing the diameter of the urethral lumen. This then allows the urethra to close more effectively and prevents urine leakage.
To receive more information regarding this study and further enrollment criteria, please contact either George A. Kramer DVM, DACVIM or Gianira Candelario Acevedo DVM, Internal Medicine Resident. Or you can download the attached enrollment form and have your client schedule an appointment with us.
|
 |
|
Funny Bones
Pets That'll Make You Smile:
Kitty Is All Wet!
Shower or drink ... shower or drink? Hmmmm. Sometimes it's easier
just to do both. [Be sure to turn up your speaker!]
|
|
Events Calendar (Nov.-Jan.) Nov. 6-9
CVC 2009
San Diego Convention Center
San Diego, California
Thursday, Nov. 12
LIVMA monthly meeting
Click here for other state, national, and global veterinary events in November.
Dec. 6-8
Dr. Kramer attending
ICI Meeting 2009 (Innovations in Cardiovascular Interventions)
Tel Aviv, Israel
Thursday, Dec. 10
LIVMA monthly meeting
Click here for other state, national, and global veterinary events in December.
Jan. 11 & 12
Advanced Veterinary Clinical Training Seminar in Tianjin, China
Dr. Kramer's schedule:
Jan. 11 -- 9 AM-12 PM
Dr. Kramer presenting
"Clinical Cardiology Overview (Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, & Treatment)"
Jan. 12 -- 2-5 PM
Dr. Kramer presenting
"Cardiac Ultrasound & Radiology Review"
Thursday, Jan. 14
LIVMA monthly meeting
Click here for other state, national, and global veterinary events in January. |
|
About Atlantic Coast
Veterinary Specialists
At Atlantic Coast Veterinary Specialists, our commitment is to provide you — the referring veterinarian — and your clients, the best and the latest in modern veterinary medicine.
Whether it is through our mobile ultrasound service or through our referral and emergency services available, Atlantic Coast Veterinary Specialists is here to work with you as a partner on those difficult and challenging cases. We look forward to hearing from you.
Please feel free to call any member
of our Board Certified staff for help and assistance.
About your Subscription
Forward to a Friend
Unsubscribe
Contact Us
|
|
| |
|
| |
 |
|
FDA Providing Guidance On Use Of Drug For Cushing Disease
Federal drug authorities are providing guidance for veterinarians on the use and compounding of a drug used in the treatment of hyperadrenocorticism (Cushing disease) in dogs.
The Food and Drug Administration published online a letter to veterinarians that states Vetoryl is the only FDA-approved animal drug containing trilostane as the active ingredient. The letter also states the drug should not be imported from other countries, should not be compounded in bulk, and can be legally compounded only if Vetoryl is used as the starting material.
"An animal drug that is compounded from bulk drug ingredients is not FDA-approved and the safety and effectiveness of the compounded drug, as well as the adequacy of the manufacturing process, have not been evaluated," the letter states.
A spokeswoman for the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine said CVM officials think it is important to educate not only veterinarians but also pharmacists on the approved product. The FDA wrote a similar letter to pharmacists.
The FDA announced May 11 the approval of Vetoryl for treating pituitary- and adrenal-dependent hyperadrenocorticism. The drug is produced by Penn Pharma in South Wales, U.K., and distributed by Dechra Veterinary Products of Overland Park, Kansas.
BI Reportedly Stops U.S. Sales of Mexitil Sparking Concern From Veterinarians
Widespread reports have surfaced that Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals is no longer manufacturing Mexitil (mexiletine hydrochloride) for the U.S. market, and the move has some veterinarians seeking more information, according to the Veterinary Information Network (VIN).
In investigating the perceived shortage, VIN has confirmed that Teva Pharmaceuticals USA makes a generic version of the drug, which is sold through distributors.
The news was relayed on a VIN message board as veterinarians discussed a case of a boxer diagnosed with arrythmia and dilated cardiomyopathy. Intended for human patients, the drug is an orally active antiarrhythmic agent commonly used by veterinarians to treat ventricular arrhythmias in canine patients.
Dr. Mark Kittleson, a VIN consultant and board-certified cardiologist at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, considers mexiletine to be "reasonably important" to the canine cardiac patients. With no such drug approved for use in veterinary medicine, Kittleson expresses regret that antiarrhythmics are vanishing from the marketplace.
"Oral administrations have disappeared because they're not being used much in human medicine anymore," he explains. "They have the reputation of being proarrhythmic and actually causing sudden death." Complete story.
Veterinarian Uses Stem Cells To Treat Spinal Cord Disease
With veterinarians across the country training to use stem cells for tendon and ligament repair, a professor at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) wants to take the technology a step further by applying them to chronic, cell-based diseases.
Richard Vulliet, DVM, is very early into the work. But he is optimistic about the evidence as it exists, of course, and he may have had a success.
Vulliet has treated four dogs with degenerative myelopathy with their own stem cells, which he prefers to call mesenchymal stem cells or pluripotent marrow stromal cells. The terminology has evolved and those names are more descriptive, he says.
The process works like this: Vulliet derives the mesenchymal stromal cells from bone marrow. The bone marrow aspirate is then filtered and plated (stromal cells adhere to plastic) because only about one cell in 100,000 is the proper mesenchymal stromal cell. He then cultures the cells into an enriched colony, and injects them back in.
"We're still in the exploratory phase," he says. "When I talk to possible clients, I generally get the impression they think I know what I am doing. But no, this is research." Complete story.
|
|
 |
| |
QUIZ
: What’s Your Diagnosis?
By Karyn Maxworthy, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVS
Signalment: Breagha is a 5-month-old female poodle/maltese cross.
Clinical complaint and history: Breagha presented after jumping off of a high step and coming up acutely lame on the right forelimb. She has not been bearing weight since. The
forelimb is being held at an abnormal angle at the level of the distal antebrachium.
QUESTION #1: Given the signalment of the dog and the history alone, what is the most likely diagnosis for this pet?
|
|
