Hubbell delivers distinguished lecture on veterinary anesthesia
Hubbell
LIMA Lima native and veterinary anesthesiologist Dr. John A.E. Hubbell recently delivered a lecture on the challenges and clinical progress of safely anesthetizing horses for the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ annual convention in December.
Hubbell earned his veterinary degree in 1977 from The Ohio State University, where he served as a faculty member from 1982 until he joined Rood & Riddle in 2015. He has authored scholarly articles and textbooks on veterinary anesthesia and is a frequent lecturer on the subject at professional conferences.
Hubbell
Hubbell
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The use of bisphosphonates to manage bone disorders such as navicular syndrome, especially in race and performance horses, has become a recent (and controversial) topic of discussion in the equine veterinary community. Until now, no studies have been published describing the drug’s disposition in horse bones an important consideration when assessing its side effects.
A team from the University of California, Davis, (UC Davis) and the University of Kentucky recently took the first step toward describing bisphosphonates’ residence time in horses’ bones. Heather K. Knych, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVCP, professor of Clinical Veterinary Pharmacology at UC Davis’ K.L. Maddy Equine Analytical Pharmacology Lab, presented their findings at the 2020 American Association of Equine Practitioners’ convention, held virtually.
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Cyathostomins, or small strongyles, are the most pervasive internal parasites of horses and the primary targets of adult deworming programs. The larval stages of this species, which become encysted in the large intestine’s mucosa, are what cause disease and clinical signs in horses. In large numbers they can cause a rare, life-threatening disease called larval cyathostominosis a mass eruption of encysted larvae that leads to a profound inflammatory response in the horse’s gastrointestinal tract.
“Concerns have been raised that killing larvae while encysted within the mucosal walls could lead to adverse (e.g., inflammatory) reactions,” said Ashley E. Steuer, DVM, PhD, assistant professor of parasitology at Texas Tech University’s School of Veterinary Medicine, in Amarillo.
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Veterinarians frequently use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to treat painful or inflammatory conditions in horses ranging from lameness to post-operative pain. These drugs, albeit powerful and useful, are associated with an array of side effects, the most common of which are gastrointestinal. Because of this association, veterinarians have anecdotally given horses omeprazole concurrently with NSAIDs to try to ward off gastric ulcers.
We don’t truly know, however, this method’s effects, so a team from Louisiana State University conducted a study to assess its safety and efficacy. Assistant professor of equine medicine Heidi Banse, DVM, PhD, Dip. ACVIM (LA), presented the results at the 2020 American Association of Equine Practitioners’ virtual convention.