BSAVA Congress on Demand – The Top Ten Bundle

The Top Ten bundle is a short-cut to the best of Congress 2021, as voted for by you through your views. It includes a wide variety of topics from lameness and dermatitis to radiography and BOAS surgery, and delivers a whole host of useful tips and tools applicable to first-opinion practice.

We spoke to veterinary professionals who’ve watched some of the session included in the Top Ten bundle to find out what they think:

‘Getting the most from your orthopaedic exam in the lame dog’ with Ben Walton and Miranda Aiken

“Always one of my favourite lectures,” says peripatetic surgeon, Clare Low. “Ben reminds us all how much information can be gained from a good clinical exam, in tandem with Amanda, who gives a refresher on gait analysis. It’s a fantastic review for all young graduates or those wanting to improve their orthopaedic exam,” she says.

‘Nerve blocks made easy’ and ‘Identifying anaesthetic problems’ with Andrew Bell and Daniel Pang

Jennifer is an anaesthesia nurse at The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. She’s watch both sessions under both titles and said:

“Both sessions are really enjoyable; they offer practical and accessible advice. Andy uses effective and clear diagrams to reveal the most common capnograph traces we are likely to encounter in anaesthetised patients and how we might go about managing issues with hyper and hypocapnia. He explains the particularly good reliability of the capnograph lies not only with anaesthetised patients but for getting an idea of the efficacy of CPR.

“Daniel presents what options we have when tackling hypotension in anaesthetised patients, especially when adjusting anaesthetic depth and providing a fluid bolus have been exhausted as options. Drug options are offered in a very accessible way, which helps make these lectures suitable for a range of veterinary professionals.”

‘Interactive cardiac radiography’ with Kieran Bourgeat and ‘Interactive lower respiratory radiography’ with Gawain Hammond

“Keiran gives a great overview of how the cardiac chambers and great vessels make up the cardiac silhouette we see on the thoracic radiograph using angiography videos,” says Karen Humm, Associate Professor in Transfusion Medicine and Emergency and Critical Care at the RVC. “It’s such a great way of demonstrating where the various chambers are, and when I finished the session I felt my knowledge of the subject was really refreshed.”

Karen found some ‘gems’ from the interactive lower respiratory radiography session too.

“Gawain gave us a quick recap about different lung patterns – shocking me with his statement that a genuine interstitial pattern is pretty rare, so I am definitely over-diagnosing those!”

‘Interactive cases with increased liver enzymes’ with Mike Willard

In these session Mike does an analysis of several cases ranging from mild to severe disease.  He reviews that look like liver disease but aren’t and things that look like other diseases but are liver disease.

“Refreshingly, Mike focuses on cases in which he’d made a mistake,” Sara Hillyer, first opinion practitioner.   “He believes most mistakes are made at the history or physical examination stage. His lessons weren’t prescriptive to liver disease, in fact he commonly quoted ‘Hickam’s Dictum: A man can have as many diseases as he *$&^ well pleases,’ encouraging veterinarians to take this approach over the commonly referenced Occams razor principle that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.”

‘Ocular opacities: what, when, where, why?’ with Lorraine Fleming and Richard Everson

At Congress veterinary surgeon, Jeremy Kirk, chaired the session and said: “It was particularly important to me that non-specialist vets like myself would gain knowledge immediately applicable to the consult room, and gain confidence in examination, diagnosis and decision making. So the session starts with a look at opacities down the visual axis, through the cornea, anterior chamber, lens and then into the vitreous.

“Lorraine and Richard are obviously skilled at engaging with referring vets and such information was abundant and clearly presented. Attendees at Congress posed questions liberally and the interests of the audience became apparent, specifically how is corneal cytology performed? How do I know that an iris cyst is not a melanocytic neoplasm, and will it rupture?”  These questions as well as Lorraine’s and Richard’s answers are retained in this recording.

“I appreciate Lorraine’s comparison of the medical treatment of cataract to attempts to ‘unfry an egg’ and found her descriptions of vascular patterns as trees or hedges similarly helpful,” says Jeremy.

‘Take a deep breath: BOAS surgery doesn’t have to be scary’ with Jane Ladlow and Rob White

Containing two sessions, ‘Nose and soft palate’ and ‘Laryngeal collapse and tracheostomy’,

“Jane Ladlow and Rob White outline the surgical techniques for correction of BOAS, with Jane taking on the nasal and palatal procedures, and Rob dealing with larynx and trachea,” summarises Jim Hughes.  Jim is an experienced practitioner and has spent the last 15 years almost exclusively in small animal veterinary.

“It would appear that the more conventional ‘wedge’ rhinoplasty is now being superseded by the ‘Leipzig method’ which combines resection of the alar fold with the ‘Trader’ technique,” he says.  “It was interesting to hear that the consensus from the Brachycephalic working group is that there is probably no benefit in doing just a nasal procedure in a young dog as an attempt to prevent BOAS developing later. And in fact, it could make matters worse by offering a false sense of security to the owner who now thinks their dog has had ‘BOAS surgery’.”

‘Treatment of canine atopic dermatitis in 2021 – what options, in what order?’ with Tim Nuttall and Ariane Neuber-Watts

“A fabulous, concise overview of treatments,” surmises David Godfrey, an Advanced Practitioner dermatologist, reviewing the first session simply titled ‘Options’.

It is accurately named. As well as treatments such as topical emollients, essential fatty acid (EFA) supplements or enriched diets, palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), allergen specific immunotherapy (ASIT), antihistamines, and anti-inflammatory medication, this session also provides an overview of this very common condition.

The second session ‘Strategy’ looks at different treatment modalities used in combination to formulate a treatment plan that suits the patient and carer.

“I liked the overall philosophy of both speakers on treating canine atopic dermatitis – as much as needed: as little as possible,” says David.

If you like the sound of these sessions, you can find the Top Ten bundle in Congress on Demand, available in the BSAVA Library now.