Craig A Clifford, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Oncology), talks about the general practitioner’s role in the care for patients with cancer

Cancer care in the primary practice

, Craig A Clifford, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Oncology), talked about his lecture “Veterinary Oncology: What Can I Do in the Primary Care Setting?” presented at the Fetch dvm360 conference in 

In the interview, Clifford outlined what he discussed in his lecture, explaining that primary care veterinarians, not just specialists, can perform certain diagnostics and provide treatment for cancers in animal patients.

Below is a partial transcript. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

Craig A Clifford, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Oncology): 

…the focus of this lecture is that, you know, for many years—too many years, I would say, looking back—you know, I focused a lot of my lectures on…what I can be doing cancer-wise, and why a primary care doctor should be sending me the case and how I can help. And then it really hit me, maybe about 5 years ago that was incredibly self-serving. So I've really modified the way I do my lectures, and I've really rotated everything around to being more ‘what are the things that can be done in the primary care setting?’ and focusing more on what the primary care doctor can be doing for cancer patients, not just where my role is.

We're going to talk about diagnostics that primary care doctors should be doing in their clinic. You know, oftentimes we've gotten to the point we view test as either a primary care test or a specialty test, and that's not really the case. These are veterinary tests. So we're going to talk about the idea of doing immunophenotyping for dogs with lymphoma, large cell lymphoma, and why that's important, and why that should be done in the primary care setting. It doesn't have to be done with the specialists.

Videos

 readers! To kick off 2025, Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, chatted with Sebastian Gabor, MBA, cofounder of Digitail, to discuss the current landscape in of artificial intelligence (AI) as we head into 2025. Gabor and Christman discuss the strengths AI can provide to veterinary clinics, the amount of time it can save veterinary professionals, and the need for holistic AI integration in current systems due to the possibility of the systems not communicating with each other effectively. 

: Where do you think [AI's] going this year now? I mean, obviously it's on a very high trajectory for success. So where do you [think]...AI [is] heading in 2025?

So now in a super exciting moment in history, because on 1 side, practices have realized that AI is a competitive tool, is a competitive advantage, and more and more [people] want to use it. The challenge that I'm seeing is similar to the challenge that we've seen in the industry, where we had all the legacy systems, like legacy PIMs [practice information management software]...and then you had a lot of add ons on top. And the problem with those add ons like you've probably tried yourself, is that they say that you book an appointment online and it gets into your PIMs. But reality is, you get an email and then you manually put it in the PIMs, and then that doesn't communicate with the chat tool that you're using, and so on and so forth. 

So the big challenge that I'm seeing that's going to most likely happen if we continue down this path is that you'll start having a lot of AI tools that don't communicate with each other. Imagine having out of the entire patient journey, imagine you have one AI assistant that does the intake for the patient that doesn't communicate with the AI that you're using to do the medical notes, and that doesn't communicate with AI that does the discharge notes. There is no way you can actually deliver care with that. And this is the big risk, and this is why we're a big proponent that the concept of holistic AI needs to happen, and that's the way you we can actually leverage AI for good, and where we can see results, as in 40 hours per DVM per month saved, where we can see that vets can now go home on time, [and] here we can see that the pet parents have a really great experience, and everything is personalized for them.

Podcasts

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, and Sebastian Gabor, MBA, discuss the evolution and future of artificial intelligence in veterinary medicine

Artificial intelligence in veterinary medicine

As more people become pet owners, the number of veterinary clinics, hospitals, and facilities continues to rise. Opening new veterinary practices improves accessibility to pet care and often brings advanced technology and expert veterinarians, raising the overall standard of care for animals. Additionally, with new veterinary medicine facilities, clients have a higher chance of being able to efficiently obtain medication for their pet.

Below are 3 new veterinary clinics opening in the United States:

Covetrus pharmaceutical compounding facility (Phoenix, Arizona)

Earlier this month, Covetrus announced the grand opening of its expanded pharmaceutical compounding facility in Phoenix, Arizona. Spanning now 50,000 sq ft—an expansion of almost 25,000 sq ft—the building now offers more products and customized medication with the use of modern, automated equipment.

"Compounding is critical to the overall wellbeing of pets, and Covetrus is proud to partner with both veterinary clinics and pet parents to deliver this important service," Abby Kaplan, senior vice president of compounding at Covetrus, said in a company release.

 "Through our expanded facility, we are not only extending our product portfolio to meet the needs of veterinarians and pet parents, but also contributing to the local Arizona economy. We are committed to fostering growth and training among the local pharmacy programs, while delivering exceptional products to the pets we serve."

Virginia Veterinary Centers emergency and specialty veterinary hospital (Short Pump, Virignia)

A new Virginia Veterinary Centers (VVC) emergency and specialty veterinary hospital is underway. Anticipated to open in March 2025, the new 32,000 sq ft hospital will be located in Short Pump, Virginia. The upcoming center will provide round-the-clock emergency care, along with specialized services like anesthesiology, critical care, dentistry and oral surgery, diagnostic imaging, internal medicine, medical oncology, ophthalmology, radiation oncology, radiology, surgery, and neurology and neurosurgery, in partnership with Bush Veterinary Neurology Service. Moreover, the facility will have a critical care unit with high-flow oxygen and ventilators, dedicated isolation suites for respiratory and gastrointestinal infectious diseases, Linac radiation therapy, 7 surgery suites, 31 exam rooms, and a complete in-house lab.

"We are thrilled to open the doors to our new state-of-the-art hospital, designed with both innovation and care in mind,” Andrea Bulifant, VVC director of operations, said in a news release.

 “With the latest medical equipment and a team of world-class specialists, we are poised to offer exceptional care to pets in our community. This facility reflects our commitment to the health and well-being of animals, providing cutting-edge diagnostics and treatment options that were previously unavailable to metro Richmond area. Pet owners can now feel confident knowing that their beloved companions will receive the highest level of care in a compassionate and advanced environment."

Tennessee Equine Hospital East (Shelbyville, Tennessee)

Tennessee Equine Hospital (TEH) recently announced the opening of a new TEH in Shelbyville, Tennessee, in collaboration with Wilhelm Equine Services. TEH East will be staffed by a team of skilled veterinarians and support staff offering ambulatory services across the region. This will bring veterinary care directly to farms and homes at the convenience of horse owners, according to TEH.

 Additionally, an urgent care haul-in facility is planned to open in early 2025. TEH East expands the hospital group's comprehensive care network, with the network’s main facility in Thompson's Station serving as a referral center for 4 satellite hospitals in Gallatin and Eads, Tennessee; Harvest, Alabama; and the newly added location in Shelbyville, Tennessee.

“Our love of horses is at the heart of everything we do, and through this partnership, we are able to fulfill our dream of making quality care accessible across Tennessee and beyond,” Monty McInturff, DVM, co-owner and president of TEH, said in an organizational release.

 “Dr Richard Wilhelm [DVM,] brings a deep understanding of the East Tennessee equine community, and we are excited to combine our expertise and passion.”

Covetrus® unveils newly expanded, state-of-the-art pharmaceutical compounding facility in Phoenix Area. News release. Covetrus. December 10, 2024. Accessed December 19, 2024. 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/covetrus-unveils-newly-expanded-state-of-the-art-pharmaceutical-compounding-facility-in-phoenix-area-302326365.html?tc=eml_cleartime

Virginia Veterinary Centers to expand with new ER & specialty hospital in Henrico (Short Pump), VA. News release. Virginia Veterinary Centers. December 6, 2024. Accessed December 19, 2024. [email]

Tennessee Equine Hospital expands network of care with fifth location. News release. Tennessee Equine Hospital. December 19, 2024. AccessedDecember 19, 2024. [email]

Articles

Take a look at these 3 veterinary centers newly opened or coming soon

Clinic center: The latest veterinary establishments

 is counting down our Top 5 videos of 2024. The ranking is based on measurable interest and engagement from our digital viewers. These 5 videos feature thought leaders from throughout the veterinary care industry, who discuss a variety of topics.

 features Julia Miller, DVM, DACVD. an assistant clinical professor at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, New York. In this interview—sponsored by Blue Buffalo and recorded at the Fetch dvm360 Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina—Miller discusses diagnosing and managing environmental allergies in pets, emphasizing the importance of allergy testing not just for identification but also for creating customized immunotherapy to enhance the pets’ quality of life. 

Allergy testing is something I love to do for my environmentally allergic pets. So I go through the whole process of ruling out flea allergy, making sure it's not a food allergy. And then when we get into environmental allergies being the cause for the patient's itch, that's what I'll often recommend allergy testing. But I don't do allergy testing just to know what they're allergic to because you can't avoid. I always tell people, if you figure out how to avoid ragweed, you tell no one else, you tell me, and then we'll be rich together. So, we don't do it for avoidance purposes or just no. knowledge. What we do allergy testing for is for to create immunotherapy so that we can then create the own specific allergy vaccine or injection for that particular patient to try to desensitize them. It can be really hard to tell the difference so the only way to truly know if you've got a pet that is not nonseasonally itchy, so how they present the same, food allergies and environmental allergies can both be nonseasonally itchy, that's the big thing that we see. They can have recurrent ear infections for both of them, recurrent anal saculitis, things like that. So if you have that nonseasonally itchy kiddo that gets recurrent ear infections, then you're kind of in the well is it food or is it environment, and what you have to do, fortunately, unfortunately, what you have to do first is rule out food. That's the critical thing.

So a strict prescription diet trial is the way to rule out a food allergy. And then once you rule out that food allergy, then you proceed with environmental stuff. So there's a lot of tools in our toolbox. And I think it is really important that we utilize them. So you know, Apoquel is great, Cytopoint is great, but we need some epidermal barrier support in these dogs. We need to reduce surface microbes. Some patients actually really benefit from routine bathing, things like that. So the more you utilize the different tools in your toolbox and approach from an inside out and outside in kind of a way, you can actually create a much happier, healthier patient that may be less reliant on drugs, and you tend to see your itch control be better.

So for topicals, I think there are so many out there that are fantastic. The number one rule I go by is what will the client do? So I'm always looking for a topical that smells nice, goes on nice, and is easy for the client to use because if they can't do it, they're not going to do it and then it doesn't help us out at all. So I always have a conversation with the client and try to see what will be the easiest for them to use.

The Top 5 countdown for 2024 dvm360 videos highlights the most viewed interviews of the past year 

Top 2024 dvm360 podcasts: #1 

 editorial team has been counting down our Top 20 news stories and articles of the year, from January 1, 2024, to November 15, 2024. Rank was determined by measurable audience interest and engagement.

In the final installment of 20-part series, the No. 1 

 story of the year is shared. The following article is No. 1 on the list:

USDA permanently revokes license of Virginia breeders

A pair of animal breeders in Virginia recently had their Animal Welfare Act (AWA) license permanently revoked by an order of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that cited numerous violations. The USDA and the Virginia Attorney General’s Office also oversaw the surrender of approximately 200 animals in the care of breeders Elena Mikirticheva and Andrey Mikirtichev of North Chesterfield, Virginia, who are also facing more than $300,000 in civil penalties.

“The humane treatment of animals has always been a top priority of APHIS, and we use all available resources to carry out this goal,” said Roxanne Mullaney, DVM, deputy administrator for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Animal Care Program, in an agency release.

 “We applaud the work of our inspectors and our partners, and value the partnerships that help ensure enforcement of the AWA.”

Under court order, approximately 45 animals were surrendered to USDA, which placed the animals for adoption through shelters and rescue organizations in Virginia. The federal agencies also worked with the Virginia Attorney General’s Office to seize more than 150 more animals at the facility for placement with the Humane Society of the United States.

The actions and penalties imposed upon the defendants are part of preliminary injunction relief issued by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for alleged pervasive mistreatment of animals. The relief was ordered by US District Judge David J. Novak for the Eastern District of Virginia to replace a temporary restraining order that cited more than 50 AWA violations—identified by APHIS inspections—for failure to provide adequate shelter, medical care, and other animal care to cats and dogs.

 The pair of breeders also failed to provide access to USDA inspectors.

For more on this story, including the legal filings of APHIS, view the full article: 

https://www.dvm360.com/view/usda-permanently-revokes-license-of-virginia-breeders

The top dvm360 news story of 2024 is revealed in the final installment of this 20-part series 