Fall 2012/Winter 2013 Aesculapian Magazine - University of ...

CollegeNews
UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital Update:
MRI, Endoscopy Towers and Lameness Locator
Signal are our newest technologies
Photo by Sarah Freeman
The UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) is the proud home of
several new technological advancements, including this in-house
MRI to service large and small animals.
By Sarah Freeman
The UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH)
is the proud home of several new technological
advancements, including an in-house MRI, which
will service both small animals and horses. Four new
endoscopy towers and an equine Lameness Locator were
also recently purchased.
The MRI, which was delivered with the help of a crane in
early November and assembled indoors due to its massive
12,400-pound weight, will be housed in the Large Animal
Hospital in a former exam room retrofitted specifically for
the equipment. The unit is a 1.5-tesla Siemens machine
and is frequently found in human hospitals.
“This MRI opens up a whole new service that we’ve
never had before,” commented Shannon Holmes, DVM,
a board-certified veterinary radiologist and assistant
professor of diagnostic imaging. “To have an MRI inhouse
to be able to do emergency MRIs, and the ability to
do a horse, is a great addition to the services we offer. It
opens up more properties compared with what we had
before, too, including new neurological applications.”
The VTH is also the owner of four new high-definition
endoscopy towers that provide not only a clearer viewing
area, but one that is larger, too. Using a 1080p resolution,
these units are used by Zoological Medicine, Internal
Medicine, Large Animal Surgery, and Small Animal
Surgery for procedures including rhinoscopy, upper
and lower GIs, biopsies, arthroscopy, laparoscopy, and
thoracoscopy.
The Large Animal Surgery and Equine Lameness
services are now offering the technologies of the Lameness
Locator to evaluate equine lameness. The Lameness
Locator will add an objective analysis of the horse’s body
movement to examinations for routine lameness. With
the use of small inertial sensors, the Locator detects and
quantifies asymmetry in the horse. The data is gathered in
real-time and transmitted wirelessly to a tablet computer,
which then allows for on-site analysis of the data. The
system provides an analysis report that indicates which
limb or limbs are involved, the magnitude of the lameness,
and at which phase of the stride the horse experiences the
most pain.
“What I see as the most valuable use of the Lameness
Locator is in the evaluation of low-grade, performancelimiting
lameness, multi-limb lameness, and the objective
evaluation of our diagnostic anesthesia,” said Large Animal
Section Chief Randy Eggleston, DVM, a board-certified
surgeon and clinical associate professor of large animal
medicine. “The Lameness Locator is not meant to replace
our skill as lameness diagnosticians, but instead to add
an objective element to some of the more challenging
lameness cases that we see.”
All of these technologies, including the MRI, will move
to the new Veterinary Medical Learning Center when
it opens. In the meantime, these services are currently
available to our clients and referring veterinarians.
Aesculapian Fall 2012/Winter 2013
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