College of Veterinary Medicine Research Brochure

Changing Standards of Care While Improving Sight“These animals can live without seeing,but they want to see.When you can give them sight,their personalities change big-time.”Dr. Dennis BrooksVVeterinary ophthalmologistDennis Brooks has fondmemories of some of his patients,such as a blind foal that ended up inhis University of Florida clinic a fewyears ago for an eye operation.“We were taking the baby back tothe mare, and when the baby got 10to 15 feet from the mare, the babydug in his hooves, just stopped, andwould not go any closer,” Brooksrecalled. “We were trying to pushthe baby gently toward the marewhen a student figured out theproblem. The baby had never seenhis mother.“It took him a minute or two, but thebaby figured out the huge animal infront of him was his mother,” Brookssaid. “It’s a big high to restore sight.”Brooks has spent a career workingtoward such success stories. He hasperformed cataract surgery on aBengal tiger and used laser surgeryto treat glaucoma in horses anddogs. At UF, Brooks and hiscolleagues have performed morecornea transplants on horses thananywhere else in the world.While some pet and horse ownersmay focus on more routine veterinarycare, vision problems are the fourthmost common health problem forhorses, and dogs are second only tohumans in incidence of glaucoma,making the need for veterinaryophthalmology research easy to see.Brooks has not only personallysaved sight for many animals, hisresearch has changed the standardof care other veterinarians providefor equine eye problems.“We’re right here in the middle ofFlorida’s horse industry, and in theearly 1980s we started seeing a lot ofhorses with eye problems at a timewhen no one was successful withhorse eye problems. Horse eyeproblems scared people,” Brooks said.“So we started working harder tofigure out why the horse eye healed sopoorly, how we could help it heal.”Eye problems in horses typically areworse than eye problems in otherspecies, including humans. Brooksand his colleagues figured anyadvances in treating equine eyesmight eventually benefit otheranimals and people. The researchersstudied tears collected from horses’damaged eyes and found high levelsof enzymes. The enzymes, in effect,were causing the eyes to begindigesting themselves.“The horse eye is so destructive,”Brooks said. “But once we knew theenzyme level was up, we couldfigure out how to reduce the enzymelevel and allow the eye to heal.”The research was published inJanuary 2005 and resulted inchanges in the legal standard ofveterinary medical care for horse eyeproblems. A veterinarian now mustaddress the enzyme level in a horsewith a damaged eye, and failure toaddress it amounts to a failure tomeet the new standard of care.“We’ve changed the legal standardof care for these animals, and I’mpretty proud of that,” Brooks said.Brooks’ research began withglaucoma in dogs. He was the firstto start examining how the bloodflow and blood pressure in the eyeaffects the optic nerve and currentlyis in the midst of a large grantproject to examine electricalchanges in the eye.“It requires a very large team ofpeople to make contributions in thisarea,” Brooks said. “I’ll be studyingglaucoma my whole career. It’s a bigpuzzle, and what I’m trying to do isput some of the pieces together. I’mhoping someone comes along oneday and puts all the pieces together.”When Brooks’ career brought him toUF, he found himself in the midst ofhorse country and facing some of themost intransigent eye problemsaround. Not every horse’s eyesightcould be saved, but Brooks hasfound inspiration among the blindanimals as well.One inspiration, a plucky PalmBeach County thoroughbred namedValiant, competes in dressagealthough he is blind. Brooks tried invain to save Valiant’s sight and sayshe has been impressed by whatValiant and his owner haveaccomplished without sight.“A horse with no eyes can dobetter than you think,” Brooks said.The Valiant Equine OphthalmologyResearch and Development Centeris named after the horse and helps tofund Brooks’ research.“These animals can live withoutseeing, but they want to see,”Brooks said. “When you can givethem sight, their personalitieschange big-time.”Brooks holds a veterinary medicinedegree and a doctorate, making himpart doctor and part scientist. Heteaches as well and has written atext called “Equine Ophthalmology.”He praises his graduate studentsand the university environment.“The graduate students make youbetter,” Brooks said. “If I workedall by myself, without colleaguesor students, I would not be doingnearly as well as I am in workingat a university.”While Brooks’ work appearsspecialized – only about 10veterinarians worldwide share hisexpertise – he says he doesn’t thinkhe has narrowed his focus at all.“I’ve opened a door to a wholeuniverse of knowledge,” Brookssaid. “It will keep me busy mywhole career.”Photo left: Dr. Dennis Brooks combinesscientific aptitude with clinical knowledgein veterinary ophthalmology.20Research • University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine••Clincal • www.vetmed.ufl.edu21