Vet Gazette

The Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Oregon State University has a new state-of-the-art scope for diagnosing upper airway disorders in horses.

The portable Optomed dynamic endoscope allows veterinarians to see a horse’s airway under a variety of conditions, in any environment. The custom-made scope is so new there are only a few currently being used in this country.

“The endoscope will allow us to examine the upper airway of client horses in real time during their normal activity,” says Dr. Erica McKenzie, specialist in equine internal medicine and sport horses. “It is especially useful with horses where we cannot duplicate their specific exercise on the treadmill, or when they cannot be safely trained to the treadmill.”

The dynamic scope is inserted into the horse’s nostril and, once it is properly placed, locked securely into place by a special nose band that fits comfortably over or under the bridle. A specially-designed saddle pad that houses the recording device is then placed on the horse’s back. A saddle or sulky harness easily fits over the pad. Once all the equipment is in place, the horse can follow its regular exercise routine. A real-time video of the horse’s airways can be watched on a mobile screen. The video can also be recorded on a flash drive for viewing later.

The dynamic endoscope allows the airway to be observed during all types of exercise and movement, including ridden horses. It will help veterinarians diagnose previously unidentified upper airway disorders such as noisy breathing during exercise and exercise intolerance. It was purchased, in part, with a donation from the Willard L. and Ruth P. Eccles Foundation.

Cats with feline injection-site sarcoma (FISS) often have noncancerous tissue removed with their tumors as a precaution. This can have detrimental effects on felines, so Dr. Milan Milovancev, professor of small animal surgery, is studying ways to be more precise in determining which tissues are noncancerous.

“Older studies showed that if you had bigger margins, cats would live longer,” Milovancev said. “The previous margin guidelines of 2 to 3 centimeters had been found to be inadequate, and the new guidelines were 5, which seemed like a big jump, and in some of these cats may cause a lot of unnecessary suffering.

“The net take-home is that yes, 2 to 3 centimeters is indeed inadequate, but we didn’t find any tumors getting close to 5 centimeters. We can reduce morbidity by surgically removing what we need to take out, and leaving what doesn’t need to be taken out.”

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Shelley Brown makes a quality check on the instrument washer.

Every Certified Veterinary Technician is trained to properly clean surgical instruments, but Shelley Brown and Ruth Mandsager take it to the next level.

Shelley Brown has worked in the Central Sterile department of the hospital for six years. She is solely responsible for cleaning and sterilizing all the dirty equipment that is generated daily by a very busy hospital. If that sounds fairly simple, it’s not. The job requires her to be a combination of mechanic, plumber, quality manager, chemical tester, and neat freak.

The Central Sterile department processes drapes, scrubs, towels, instruments, hardware, tubing, cannulas, and all the delicate electronic instruments used in minimally invasive surgeries. Brown handles every piece three to five times. Some things need more cleaning than others; some even need to be inspected under a microscope for wear and damage. Most things go through an ultrasonic cleaner and the instrument washer; but scopes cameras and drills must all be handwashed.

“Engineers have designed all these cool devices, but can they be cleaned?” says Brown. “They have to be sterilized so they can be used again and again.” That’s why the hospital doesn’t buy their orthopedic drills at Home Depot.  “I’ve got to be able to sterilize it at 270 degrees for ten minutes. What electronic equipment likes that?” she says.

With their narrow, six-foot long tubes, light and computer cables, and camera at the end, endoscopes are especially tricky to sterilize.  “The camera is immersible and autoclavable, but it is still delicate,” says Brown. “If you accidentally put something in the wrong machine, you can destroy a $5,000 scope.”

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Each incoming class of veterinary students has it’s own unique ‘personality’. Among other things, the Class of 2021 will be remembered for being the first with 69 members, rather than 56. They are part of a new growth initiative that will include expansion of Magruder Hall (see previous story).

The Class of 2021 was selected from an applicant pool of 970, and includes 36 Oregon residents. Fifty-eight  students in the class identify as female, and ten as male. They have a overall incoming GPA of 3.61, and 28% are age twenty-five years or older. They come to Corvallis from across the U.S. and many already have experience as veterinary technicians, wildlife center volunteers, zookeepers, farm hands, and university researchers.

As in past years, a significant number (26%) showed their tenacity and passion for becoming a veterinarian by applying to CVM more than once.

The Oregon State International Veterinary Student’s Association (IVSA) will be traveling to Ometepe, Nicaragua in August for their annual veterinary service trip. This group of dedicated veterinary students will be conducting six days of free clinics on an island that has no regular veterinary care for their animals. The clinics include physical exams, de-worming, vaccinations, spays, neuters, and public health education.

Ometepe Island is home to an estimated 10,000 rural people and approximately 50,000 animals, many of them under-nourished. The community relies on its pigs, cows, donkeys, horses and chickens for food, transport and work.  In addition, there is a large population of stray dogs on the island which can spread disease and causes a public health concern.

OSU students, under the supervision of volunteer veterinarians, spay and neuter hundreds of dogs and cats on Ometepe every summer. Now in its tenth year, the program has made a visible impact on the over-population of strays. “We now see many dogs that come to the clinic and only need preventive care, since so many have been spayed and neutered.,” says Dr. Sue Tornquist, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, and long-time volunteer on the trip.

OSU veterinary students plan, organize and fund the trip independently from the college or any other organization. In addition to funding their own travel costs, students must also raise money to purchase medical supplies needed for the trip, such as vaccines, needles, syringes, gauze, and sutures. The total averages about $1,500 per student.

You can help support the students by adopting a Nicaraguan animal for only $20. “In exchange, you will receive a photo and story about the animal that was in our care, including a description of the type of care provided for the animal,“ says Kristin Wineinger, IVSA co-chair. For more information about the service trip, or to donate, visit http://stuorgs.oregonstate.edu/ivsa/donate.

The video team at OSU Productions interviewed faculty and students, and filmed areas of the hospital that clients typically don’t see, to create a 3 minute video of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. The video is posted on the hospital website where veterinarians, clients, and future clients can take a quick look behind the scenes.