It is a great honor, a great pleasure and a greater responsibility to continue serving European Veterinary Society for Small Animal Reproduction (EVSSAR) as President after 15 years of membership!
A big thank you to all the members of this great family for trusting me!
Hard work will be continued, as the tradition commands…
The abstracts of the 8th International Symposium on Canine and Feline Reproduction (ISCFR-EVSSAR, Paris 2016) are available on line at IVIS website! If you want to download them, click here! Remember, you have to be registered to IVIS in order to have full access…
This excellent Symposium was the result of skillful and proficient work of the ISCFR International Organizing Committee members Prof. Michelle Kutzler, Prof. Pierre Comizzoli, Prof. Gary England and Prof. John Verstegen, in collaboration with the Scientific Program committee, and the Local Organizing Committee chaired by Prof. Alain Fontbonne and Associate Prof. Karine Reynaud. Of course we have to mention the excellent work of all the members of the EVSSAR board!
Finally a big big thank you to all the vets from all over the world that participated actively and presented the results of their latest scientific work on all the fields of small animal (and not only) reproduction!
PS: The party organized from the local organizing committee was just awesome! Thank you guys!
The 8th Quadrennial International Symposium on Canine and Feline Reproduction which is a Joint Meeting with the 19th EVSSAR Congress, just finished. It was perfectly organized in Paris, the city of light, from 22 to 25 of June.
The scientific level of all speakers was very high and the program covered all the aspects of small animal reproduction science.
The results of our latest research projects were successfully presented:
– Ultrasound elastography of the normal canine prostate and testicles (G. Mantziaras, G.C. Luvoni).
-First documented report of CHV-1 infection of a pregnant bitch in Greece. (G. Mantziaras, K. Teliousis, O. Mavropoulou, A. Pseftogas, G.C. Luvoni).
It was also a great chance to meet good friends from all over the word, discuss with them, and have a nice party on Friday night!
Finally, I was one of the three new EVSSAR’s Board members that have been elected during the General Assembly! A big big thank you to all those that honored me with their vote! I promise to do my best and work hard the following years!!!
We’ll be back soon and till than,
Take care of yourselves!
On Sunday January 31st, I was invited to give a short lecture about radioprotection in the veterinary practice.
Ionizing radiation is not a new or unknown field for me, as I was a member of Greek Airforce’s NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) Medical Response Team from 1998 to 2007. Apart from that, the effects of any type of radiation on the reproduction system and on the fetus are also of great importance for me because of my special interest in small animal’s reproduction. One of my latest research project has to do with the potential effects of specific types of electromagnetic radiation in pregnant rats.
So those of you that might find something interesting in my presentation, you can read the attached pdfs! One in Greek and one translated in English!
Have a nice week!
Radioprotection and the role of the vet-Greek
Radioprotection and the role of the vet-Engl
One more time at Milan University! The Vet School still sitting there, full of veterinary histories as it was firstly established in 1791! And always full of memories for me as I visited it for the first time back in 2004 in order to attend the 3rd ESAVS course of small animal reproduction. From that time till now a fruitful cooperation between the Clinic of Obstetrics & Gynecology and myself began…
Our latest research project is focused on the prostate of the dog. It may sound boring but it is not! Though the prostate is a well-studied gland, a lot of things have to be made clear yet. For example, a lot of discussion between breeders, dog owners and vets has been observed all these years, concerning the prevention of cancer of the canine prostate. Some claim that castration prevents cancer development while others don’t want to hear about it! But the real question is “how common is neoplasia of the prostate of the dog?”. The correct answer to this could be something like “It depends”! In the following lines I will try to explain why.
During the 90’s and early 00’s it was believed that intact (= not castrated) male dogs have a high probability to develop prostatic neoplasia. So the common preventive practice was castration (orchiectomy in other words) which was performed at a very young age, even before puberty in some cases! Castration of course has some other strong benefits, such as prevention of development prostatic benign hyperplasia, prostatic cysts and other pathologies of the gland. Without a doubt castration is also a great “tool” for the control of stray dog population, that has to be combined with education of the owners.
These advantages are all true. Except one: prevention of neoplasia! In the (not so) recent literature it is well demonstrated that “neutered males had a significantly increased risk for each form of prostatic cancer. Neutered males had an odds ratio of 3.56 for urinary bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), 8.00 for prostate TCC, 2.12 for prostate adenocarcinoma, 3.86 for prostate carcinoma, and 2.84 for all prostate cancers.”(Bryan et al, Prostate, 2007).
And of one the Guru’s of small animal reproduction, Michelle Kutzler, makes things clear enough: “Not only does castration not protect against future development of prostatic neoplasia in dogs, but incidence of prostatic neoplasia is higher in castrated dogs” (Neoplasms of the Prostate in Small Animals, The Merck Veterinary Manual, 2013).
These infos also reflect my own feeling, deriving from my almost 20 years’ small animal practice experiences. The “true” and “real” cases of prostatic neoplasia that I have seen are less than 5 (3 as far as I remember). “True” and “real” mean “proven” by histologic or cytological examination of prostatic samples taken with biopsy or fine needle aspiration (FNA). On the other hand, diseases such as benign prostatic hyperplasia, cysts, prostatitis (= inflammation of the prostate gland) are almost everyday practice to my experience…
But in several congresses and several discussions with vets from other countries, I realize that scientific community is really worried about prostatic neoplasia prevention and treatment! How can it be??? Am I missing cases? Or maybe vets from other countries are overestimating the frequency of prostatic neoplasia development? Well, none of these…it’s a matter of …let’s say… “culture”! And I will explain you what I mean: In countries of the southern Europe such as Greece or Italy, castration of the male dogs is not so familiar as in other countries such as Great Britain, USA, Belgium and maybe France. Castration is mostly performed in cases of prostatic disease (for example benign prostatic hyperplasia or prostatic cysts), very very rarely in young dogs and almost never in dogs before reaching puberty! As a result the incidence of prostatic cancer is low!
So when we are studying or discussing the epidemiology of prostatic diseases we also have to consider the possible differences between countries.
Also we have to keep in mind that early castration (despite what was common belief) increases the risk of development prostatic neoplasia! But on the other hand has many many many advantages – that will be fully discussed in the near future! In any case, your vet knows the pros and cons and always decides the best for your dog, depending the problem, the current health status, the age etc etc etc!
Merry Christmas to all!
Keep in touch!
Assisted reproduction for dogs may yield benefits for their species and ours
Source: See the First-Ever IVF Puppies
VetRepro 