Learn how IDEXX is enhancing the lives of animals, people, and the planet.

IDEXX: Contributing to something bigger

Well, hello, everybody and welcome. This is going to be a fantastic conversation that we're going to have. My name is Dr. Adam Christman, Chief Veterinary Officer here at that dvm360®. And joining us today is the one and only Dr. Peter Weinstein. Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you, Adam. Pleasure to be here with you.

We're very honored to have you. We want to give a huge thank you to our friends at Synchrony, CareCredit, and Pets Best for supporting today's session because we're gonna be talking about the pet lifetime of care. And what does that mean? So there's so many great conversations and questions that we're going to be bantering back and forth on. So if you've been living under a rock and don't know who Dr. Peter Weinstein is, just a little bit of information about our friend. Dr. Peter Weinstein attended Cornell University undergraduate and the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine to receive his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Degree. After graduation, he worked as an associate for 3 years before opening up his own practice. While he was managing and practicing full time, he attended the University of Redlands received his MBA degree. Dr. Weinstein provides small business and corporate consulting via his company PA Consulting. He was the 2018 speaker of the year for the Western Veterinary Conference Practice Management section and in 2021, for VMX. Congratulations, by the way. And he was the chair of the veterinary economic strategy committee of the AVMA. He coauthored with Michael E. Gerber, the E-Myth Veterinarian: Why Most Veterinary Practices Don't Work and What to do About it. And if you haven't read that book, you have to read it. So wonderful. So alright, we have a lot to chat about my friend. Absolutely looking forward to it. So to the viewers that may not understand or have not heard about the lifetime of care research study, talk to us a little bit about what that is and what it means.

So Synchrony commissioned a study of 1000 pet owners and 100-and-some-odd veterinarians, to look at what it costs for taking care of a pet, all encompassing: food and toys and tchotchkes and veterinary care for the lifetime of the pet. From the time it's adopted, or rescued or purchased, to the time it's put to sleep or dies naturally. And I don't think there has ever been a study that was that encompassing, to look at all of the different cost factors, put them together in one study and analyze them over the lifetime from womb to tomb.

I've never seen a study like this before, actually, it's pretty incredible and powerful. And let's talk about some, you know, high level topline findings that we've said. One thing that resonated with me that was talking to before we started filming is $250 was the bill enough to trigger anxiety about pay. So let's talk to a little bit more about what that means.

So in our cases, when we're seeing pet owners, and we're talking to them about a treatment plan, or health care plan or an estimate, and we give them that estimate, and they look at it, if 25% of the people surveyed saw a cost of $250, they would have an anxiety because it was outside of what they expected in terms of the cost of care. And even more significant number to me is 46% were triggered at $500, which means one out of every two people that you're talking to across the table over the phone will have a little bit of uncertainty about their ability to pay for their pet's care at a $500 level. And we do know that the average American only has about $400 in their savings account. So the the significance of veterinary costs in the eyes of about 50% of the consumers of veterinary services are something we need to be aware of and discuss with our clients, as well as with our staff members.

Absolutely. You try to go over like a treatment plan or an estimate, you know, you go over a dental cleaning, for instance. And sometimes they'll just say, "Yeah, sure. Okay, that sounds good." But in the back of our mind, now that I know that this study is here, I'm thinking maybe they don't have the means to really do it. They're just yessing me because they don't want to have that conversation where they feel almost embarrassed, if you will, that they don't have the funds to do that. Right.

Yeah, I mean, we should probably be hooking up our clients to a blood pressure monitor when we go over the estimate with them, so we could actually see their anxieties from a measurable standpoint. Yes, I think we take a lot for granted because we know how significant pets are in people's lives. I think the study indicated that 90% or some number, and I'm sorry, I don't remember the number off the top of my head, indicated that pets were part of a family.

And they sleep on the bed and their significant other sleeps on the floor.

So I do think that that number is something we need to be sensitive and sensitized by.

Videos

A study of 1000 pet owners and 100 veterinarians revealed client expectations about cost of pet care

Clients experience sticker shock at these price points

Content submitted by BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital, a dvm360® Strategic Alliance Partner

Perhaps a silver lining of the pandemic, leaders now prioritize company communications and are strategically investing in tools that improve their readership and click rates.

Although communication is now a priority for leaders across industries, companies still face significant challenges when communicating with the non-desk worker. Not only has technology and the 24/7 news cycle brought about a widespread decrease in humans’ attention span (with some scientists now believing humans have shorter attention spans than goldfish—yikes!), but employees are burned out and disengaged.

 To reengage employees, organizations have had to take a close look at their current communications tools, as well as understand what communications tools and channels have become available, and of those what best fits the communications preferences and needs of their changing workforce.

In my experience as a marketing and communications professional for 20 years, no workforce is alike. Figuring out the blueprint for your unique workforce is critical to reaching and connecting with employees. For our Corporate Affairs team, the blueprint included listening, analyzing what was heard, and transforming through trust and authenticity.

Here are a few tips that will help you better communicate with the non-desk, veterinary professional worker.

When I joined as Director of Communications in 2020, our communications team was sending approximately 10 emails a week. Our emails were too long, not targeted, and sent too frequently. Knowing there had to be a change to how we communicated, and our Associates felt about company communications, the team developed and launched an Associate Communications Survey.

The purpose of this research was to better understand preferences for communications, including sources, style, and desired frequency, to explore usage of information sources both personally and at our organization, to assess satisfaction with current communications, and to utilize feedback to guide future enhancements to improve readership.

94% of Associates ages 18 through 24 stated they use social media as their personal information source. In ages 25 through 34, social media was also cited as a personal information source (78%), alongside websites (43%), broadcast media (43%), and email/newsletters (43%). Of those Associates ages 35 through 44, 65% stated they use social media for information; however, websites (58%) and broadcast media (52%) were also noted information sources. We began to see a shift in personal information sources in the age groups 45 through 54 and 55+, which cited using broadcast media (64%) for their source of information.

Used communication channels like social media and broadcast news change by age groups, but email is somewhat consistent across all age groups. While a large number of hospital employees still use traditional means of communication such as emails and bulletin boards for information gathering, many now expect new forms of communications with features evocative of social media platforms (Ie, commenting features, feedback channels, newsfeeds). By emphasizing the use of multimedia communications, you can improve clarity and timeliness of messages, text, video, audio clips, and still photographs.

Hospital teams rely primarily on word-of-mouth, almost equal to emails for staying informed. When asked what the most utilized source for work information was, Associates stated manager emails (87%), Associate Communications emails (79%), followed by word of mouth/ fellow Associates (64%).

People want to get information from trusted sources – a friend, colleague, or manager. If scheduling and culture allow, set up a process to regularly relay information via face-to-face interactions (morning and afternoon huddles, formal meetings, in-hospital communication champions).

While highly used, Associate Communications emails and word-of-mouth are perceived as less valuable than manager email or meetings for keeping Associates informed. While 78% percent of Associates stated manager emails were extremely/very valuable for keeping informed, 74% cited in-person meetings as extremely/very valuable.

Alongside internal digital platforms, manager-driven communications have been a vital tool for relaying employee information. Utilize the ability to send emails from managers to optimize message distribution, improve information retention, and if there is a call to action, bring about better outcomes (Ie, enrollment in benefits).

We found that four in 10 medical Associates have limited time to check emails. Twenty-three percent of veterinary technicians or assistants cited stated they checked emails at the beginning or the end of the day, with 11% and 10% checking emails during lunch or work breaks, and at home or after work hours, respectively. For veterinarians, 22% cited checking their emails at the beginning or end of the day, with 8% checking emails on a lunch/work break, and 10% checking at home or after work.

Less is more for employees who have limited time to check emails. In fact, of three versions of the same message offered to Associates, 85% preferred concise (bullets) and to-the-point (shorter) emails regardless of position/role. Reducing the length and frequency of emails will generate greater interest and improve overall readership.

As evidenced in our Associate Survey findings, employees wanted change. So, we gave them just that.

With survey results in mind, our team took action. Here’s what we did to transform our communications, and the culture of communications at our company.

Developed a Weekly Digest, summarizing the week's most important communications items in short form.

Opened a Teams channel and Associate-facing social media channels to cross-promote intranet news items, as well as allow for employee commenting.

Created Communications Toolkits for our Regional Vice Presidents, understanding the critical role managers play in the transference of information, and the importance of intertwining digital and face-to-face tactics. These toolkits contain email templates, talking points, one-page briefs, and FAQs to help them share news with Associates.

Revamped our communications strategy. Nearly 47% of Associates indicated that company emails were not applicable to them personally, so today, we take a more personalized approach, sending tailored information to specific departments or groups of employees.

From an analytics perspective, these new communications tools and features have greatly improved our ability to connect with our employees. Since rolling out these new tactics, we have seen incredible enhancements in our employee engagement.

Additionally, topics once discussed via email are now being discussed within more collaborative settings and channels of communication. In May, we held a company Townhall, which featured members of our Senior Leadership Team (SLT), who presented on the future of work at our organization. At the end, we opened the floor—in-person and virtually—for audience questions and feedback. In May, we also launched the MyThoughts email and intranet page which offers employees the opportunity to engage directly with members of leadership.

Listening allowed us to transform how we communicate with our professionals. We broadened our channels, opened the floor for two-way dialog and feedback, and most importantly, began fostering a culture that encourages openness, accountability, and authenticity.

Companies worldwide are beginning to recognize this themselves: to engage employees, culture must be a top priority. By definition, culture is the collection of shared characteristics of a group of people, comprised of habits, beliefs, and behavioral norms. While we each come to work with unique cultural backgrounds, a shared work culture (founded in the company’s mission and beliefs) allows us to identify with one another despite our differences.

Communicating with employees under an umbrella of shared beliefs cultivates a culture of trust, unity, and collaboration. For instance, let us take cultures of equal and inequal power—with some companies holding less power at the top, and others holding more. If the culture at a company is authoritarian in power, communications will be top-down in style (leadership to the employer, with no channels for feedback). In contrast, a bottom-up style of communications reflects a more democratic company culture, one that emphasizes two-way dialog and works toward a consensus. Suppose there is a mismatch between employee values and needs and company values and needs. In that case, there will likely be a mismatch in communication preferences – leading to failed communications and a disengaged workforce.

Company communications and culture play a huge role in the employee experience, as well as in business. Uncovered by “The Heard and the Heard-Nots,” a global study of over 4,000 employees, conducted by The Workforce Institute at UKG and Workplace Intelligence

74% of employees report they are more effective at their job when they feel heard.

88% of employees whose companies financially outperform others in their industry feel heard compared to 62% of employees at financially underperforming companies.

As communicators, we must nurture cultures that reflect the values of our workforce and can do this by listening, extending channels to include those that encourage participation, and showing up (seriously, show-up—virtually and in-person).

Indeed, the future is digital, largely driven by automation and artificial intelligence. However, for us communicators, it also remains human. Take for instance referral marketing, one of the most powerful word of mouth marketing tools today with 92% of consumers trusting word-of-mouth over any other form of advertising.

 Referral marketing works because people have pre-established relationships and thus trust the recommendation that is being proposed. The same concept is true for leadership communications. If an employee is to believe and accept the information, they must first know the person who is communicating with them.

To achieve this, leaders must remove the “corporate veil” and build trusting relationships across all functions and roles to reach their employees. They must show up, show face, build connections, and continually seek to see the world through the employees’ lens. This is the true meaning of authenticity: proactively pursuing face-to-face opportunities that exhibit vulnerability and humanity in oneself, and the desire to truly know the human at the end of the email.

Hayes A. The Human Attention Span [INFOGRAPHIC]. Wyzowl. January 24, 2022. Accessed August 5, 2022. 

https://www.wyzowl.com/human-attention-span/

Marcroft D. A Silenced Workforce: Four in Five Employees Feel Colleagues Aren’t Heard Equally, Says Research from The Workforce Institute at UKG. UKG. June 22, 2021. Accessed August 5, 2022. 

https://www.ukg.com/about-us/newsroom/silenced-workforce-four-five-employees-feel-colleagues-arent-heard-equally-says

Whitler KA. Why Word Of Mouth Marketing Is The Most Important Social Media. Forbes. July 17, 2014. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2014/07/17/why-word-of-mouth-marketing-is-the-most-important-social-media/?sh=5722b4d954a8

Articles

Strategies for communicating with the modern veterinary professional

Here’s how to communicate with an “out of office” workforce

The beloved male African lion from North Carolina Zoo, Reilly (Photo courtesy of North Carolina Zoo). 

The North Carolina Zoo sadly announced the death of Reilly, a 23-year-old African lion who had been combating renal disease for various years. Due to his weakened state from the disease, the animal care team and veterinarians made the devastating decision to euthanize him.

"He was so tolerant of his rambunctious offspring and was fiercely devoted to his lady lion, Mekita," expressed zookeeper Beth Malott, who worked with Reilly for 8 years, in an organizational release.

 "Reilly was a one-of-a-kind soul, and his morning roars will be greatly missed."

"Renal disease is not uncommon for a cat of Reilly's advanced age, be it a domestic cat sitting on your chair at home or a lion at the Zoo," said director of animal health and chief veterinarian, Jb Minter, MS, DVM, DACZM.

"We had been extremely fortunate to be able to monitor the advancement of Reilly's renal disease over the years using operant conditioning to get blood from his tail, but unfortunately, the progression of the renal disease along with his previously diagnosed spinal disease proved to be too much."

Some fascinating facts about these courageous creatures include

They are the only big cats that are social

They live in "prides" consisting of a dominant male, several females, and their offspring

They are native to the savannahs and grasslands of Africa

They can reach speeds of up to 50 mph for very short bursts

Reilly was born at Lincoln Park Zoo on February 7, 1999 and arrived at the zoo on March 23, 2001. He was the father to 9 offspring, including 3 males and 6 females. Now that he has passed, Mekita is the only remaining lion at North Carolina Zoo. Future pride members and mates will be based on recommendations from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

According to the release, lions live approximately 10-15 years in the wild while male lions under human care have a median life expectancy of 17 years.

 Male African lions weigh up to 570 lb and females weigh up to 277 lb. At his prime health, Reilly weighed up to 440 lb and at the time of his death, weighed 394 lb.

African lions are listed as "Vulnerable" species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with approximately 23,000 African lions left in wild.

There populations are continually decreasing as a result of habitat loss and poaching. 

North Carolina Zoo announces death of 'fiercely devoted' elderly lion Reilly. News release. North Carolina Zoo. August 3, 2022. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.nczoo.org/news/north-carolina-zoo-announces-death-fiercely-devoted-elderly-lion-reilly

The magnificent lion: the symbol of Africa. World Wildlife Fund, Inc. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/wildlife/african-lions

‘One-of-a-kind soul’ Reilly from North Carolina Zoo will be dearly missed by staff and visitors 

Oldest male lion at AZA-accredited institution passes away 

Good afternoon dvm360 readers! Who is excited for the weekend? We know we are! We are also officially less than a month away from our Fetch dvm360 conference in Kansas City, Missouri. This is a conference you do NOT want to miss.

While you make your arrangements to come to Fetch KC, here is what was popular this week on dvm360.com:

 a partnership with Maine Veterinary Medical Center (MVMC) to create a resource for veterinary clinics to help themselves if they are ever in a position where their mental health and well-being are threatened after what happened with the staff of MVMC

During her presentation at the 2022 American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Convention, Amy Newfield, MS, CVT, VTS (ECC), 

 for veterinary technicians to help them navigate and stay fulfilled within their careers.

 of The Vet Blast Podcast, Mary Gardner, DVM, and Coleen Ellis join Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, to share their thoughts on and approach compassionate end-of-life care. 

A group of industry-leading professionals and industry organizations 

 at the AVMA convention that they formed the Coalition for Connected Veterinary Care with hopes of enhancing and expanding patient care through a broader use of telemedicine.

This week TerraVet Real Estate Solutions 

 its first company’s private real estate investment trust (REIT) titled TerraVet REIT to help provide veterinary real estate owners the opportunity to diversify their real estate holdings.

Do you still need to sign up to join us on August 26-28, 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri for another engaging educational experience? If so, sign up 

News wrap-up: This week’s headlines, plus NOMV creates Cyberbullying Task Force

Chewy, Inc, an online platform for pet parents and partners, has expanded its insurance and wellness offering with CarePlus, an exclusive suite of pet-first wellness and insurance plans currently available in 31 states that will expand nationwide by late 2022.

“The launch of CarePlus is a significant step forward in our mission of making pet healthcare more affordable and accessible,” expressed Mita Malhotra, vice president of Chewy Health, in a company release.

“Innovating to improve customer experience is the cornerstone of our customer strategy. Our thoughtfully designed and customized selection of wellness and insurance plans will empower pet parents to always say ‘yes’ to high-quality care that will help their pets live longer, healthier and happier lives,” she added.

CarePlus provides 24/7 access to the company’s customer care team for individuals interested in being better informed on insurance. It also enables users to quickly connect with licensed veterinarians through Connect with a Vet, and all costs are covered for eligible prescription medication, supplement and veterinary diet food purchases Chewy’s website.

 These elements were specifically coupled together to allow customers to achieve more comprehensive healthcare for their pets.

Additionally, CarePlus offers a seamless end-to-end user experience for veterinary and client engagements with the choice for direct payments at participating clinics via Trupanion’s patented software, decreasing out-of-pocket expenses.

The wellness plans begin at $20 a month and cover preventative care (eg, annual exams, vaccines and parasiticides). Insurance plans start at $20, $60 or $100 monthly and offer pet owners financial ease and peace of mind from accidents, unexpected illnesses, and surgeries. Those in search of complete protection can bundle CarePlus wellness and insurance plans together.

Chewy launches CarePlus, making wellness and insurance plans available to millions of pet parents. Chewy, Inc. August 4, 2022. Accessed August 5, 2022. https://investor.chewy.com/news-and-events/news/news-details/2022/Chewy-Launches-CarePlus-Making-Wellness-and-Insurance-Plans-Available-to-Millions-of-Pet-Parents/default.aspx

Aims to improve access to high-quality pet care nationwide 

Chewy debuts CarePlus, exclusive suite of pet wellness and insurance plans 

The MILE-PET scanner in action (Photo courtesy of UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine). 

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is the finest-to-date imaging technology available in equine medicine, developed by Mathieu Spriet, DVM, DACVR, DECVDI, professor of surgical & radiological sciences at The University of California (UC) Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, in concert with LONGMILE Veterinary Imaging in Rockville, Maryland.

PET scanners were first developed for humans and dogs, though that configuration was not practical for horses. Then in 2015, the first equine PET scans were performed at UC Davis and funded by the UC Davis Center for Equine Health. Clinical use of PET began at UC Davis in 2016 with additional support from the Grayson Jockey Club Research Foundation. In 2019, “MILE-PET,” the first dedicated PET scanner enabling imaging of the distal limb of a standing horse, was introduced. MILE-PET was designed to encircle the horse’s lower leg for diagnostic imaging in standing, mildly sedated horses (not requiring general anesthesia). Since its conception, Spriet, has examined over 1,000 PET scans of racehorse fetlocks.

“We’re able to scan from the carpus and tarsus distally,” described Katie Garrett, DVM, DACVS, shareholder and director of diagnostic imaging at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, Lexington, Kentucky. Rood & Riddle, which installed an equine PET scanner in March 2022, and is the fourth location in the world with a standing PET scanner for horses and is the first site featuring it at a private practice.

Two types of scans can be performed. One assesses increased bone metabolism, which is useful to identify subchondral bone disease, signs of impending fracture, suspensory ligament attachment disorders, and osteoarthritis. The other is useful in cases of soft tissue injury, such as tendon lesions or laminitis.

PET requires radioactivity licensing. The horse is injected with a radioisotope, which localizes to specific areas of bone or soft tissue injuries, depending upon the radiotracer used: for bone, sodium fluoride; and for soft tissue, FDG, a glucose derivative.

During the PET scan procedure, one injects the radiotracer, which circulates through the body and goes to areas with abnormal tissues. “It provides imaging where one might have maladaptive stress remodeling, or osteoarthritis or a suspensory ligament desmitis,” stated Garrett. “With scintigraphy, you get a lateral view and a DP view of a fetlock, like you would with radiographs (X-rays). With PET, you obtain cross-sectional data, similar to CT. With PET one gets higher resolution than scintigraphy. PET allows for three-dimensional rendering and multiplanar reconstruction, to enable the veterinarian to slice the data into different planes to determine specifically where the abnormality is.”

With a PET scan one can quantify the amount of increased uptake, and potentially grade lesion severity and follow over time.

“We did a PET scan on horse with hock arthritis. The lameness improved after intra-articular anesthesia of the distal tarsal joints. The radiographs were unimpressive, but with PET, the subchondral bone in the distal tarsal joints ‘lit up’ beautifully,” said Garrett.

“With all advanced imaging modalities, we have a better way to find problems earlier,” emphasized Garrett. “A PET scan can pick up areas of abnormal bone metabolism much sooner than a radiographic image can. We can also see improvement in these areas over time with follow-up scans,” she added. “It is one more tool in our arsenal to find injuries sooner, treat them better, and hopefully prevent longer term potentially permanent damage from occurring,” stated Garrett emphatically.

According to Jo O’Brion, RVT, Southern California Equine Foundation (SCEF) nuclear medicine technician, SCEF is the first racetrack hospital to have acquired equine PET pioneered at UC Davis. Located in Santa Anita Park, SCEF began using it in December 2019. This was shortly after a cluster of fatalities occurred at Santa Anita in 2019.

Since then, SCEF came to realize the advantages PET would offer the racing industry, and to racetrack veterinarians worldwide.

“For a high interest venue, such as the Breeders’ Cup, with roughly 200 horses on the grounds before the event, we could PET scan every horse within a few days,” states Joseph Dowd, DVM, PhD, president of SCEF. "With an extra scanner, more staff, we could double our PET capacity, thereby allowing every single horse to be scanned prior to racing. Potentially, this would allow us not to have those catastrophic injuries during the Breeder’s Cup.

During the summer of 2018, Spriet visited Del Mar, California to deliver a talk on early PET data obtained in anesthetized horses. “It was the first time we could see with imaging in live horses the small lesions of the sesamoid bone, that we’d known for [more than] 20 years were associated with breakdowns from the necropsy work of Dr. Sue Stover, DVM, DACVS, UCDavis, in conjunction with the CHRC (CA Horse Racing Board), who began cataloging fatal injuries [in] 1990,” stated Dowd. “Dr. Stover started to recognize a characteristic small lesion in the sesamoid bone and at the palmar aspect of the condyle bone, a site of bone remodeling, as being a potential precursor to fetlock breakdown, where overload arthrosis and subchondral bone failure occurs.”

“Without PET at that time, practitioners had no way of seeing/imaging that lesion for us to stave off catastrophic injury. Once Dr. Spriet perfected standing PET, we then had the technology to help us visualize these lesions.”

“PET is fast, we could do up to 20 horses per day. We can let a horse train in the morning, then come over to do a PET scan within a few minutes; put him in decontamination from the radioisotope and he can home back to the barn within a few hours. Therefore, you really don’t upset a horse’s life much at all.”

“As we began to do PET scans on racehorses, we realized PET would be better than other imaging modalities we’d used in racehorses," notes Dowd.

Additonally, O’Brion said, that funded by the Grayson Jockey Club Research Foundation, in conjunction with SCEF and Dolly Green Research Foundation (DGRC), SCEF has been able to complete various studies with its numerous populations of racehorses. “[This includes] comparison studies between PET and MRI and PET and scintigraphy; a study assessing the evolution of injuries in horses in lay-up or in training; a study on performing racehorses, to compare horses with visible clinical issues to horses that are performing well with no clinical symptomology; and currently a study of condylar fracture repair, following those horses through 90 days of healing post-surgery.”

“PET scans on racehorses have been invaluable,” added O’Brion. “We can do multiple PET scans per day. It takes on average 10 minutes to do, so horses can maintain a regular training schedule.”

“In addition to the equine PET scan, the SCEF hospital at Santa Anita also maintains a Gamma Camera and a standing MRI so that we can increase our through-put of diagnostics using multiple modalities at the same time. It increases our ability to get more horses scanned and potentially diagnosed.”

Along with the PET scanner at Santa Anita, similar scanners are available at UC Davis (also vanned to Golden Gate Fields); New Bolton Center (University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine); Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital; and the World Equestrian Center (Ocala, Florida). Several more racing venues will likely install PET in the future.

“One of the advantages of PET in comparison with scintigraphy is [the ability] to better localize clinical pathology,” noted O’Brion. “Not only do some lesions show up earlier on PET than with scintigraphy, but it is also easier to quantify the ‘danger’ aspects of a lesion. With PET we’re able to look at specific areas of the condyle or sesamoid to note that is it either okay, or in danger of pathologic fracture.”

“As we’ve done repeated PET scans on the same horses, we’ve been able to gather sufficient data to enable our veterinarians to better tell trainers, that their horse needs some time off, and/or predict whether a lesion is likely to come back, or not.”

PET imaging technology is the newest equine imaging technology and detects small lesions that could not be seen with other imaging technologies. While PET is invaluable in the racetrack setting, as we gain more knowledge on the technology it is emerging as an advanced diagnostics tool for the entire equine sport industry. The goal is to perform PET scans of the fetlock in racehorses, and then determine from those images which horses are at higher risk. PET scans help ensure proper training schedules and horses succeed throughout their racing career.

Kane E. Racing surface at Santa Anita likely contributed to 25 equine deaths. March 17, 2019. Accessed July 28, 2022. https://www.dvm360.com/view/racing-surface-santa-anita-likely-contributed-25-equine-deaths

This new imaging technology is advancing equine diagnostics, especially for racetrack horses 


SAP Partners