Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Real-time pathologist-assisted field postmortem examinations of beef cattle.
- Journal:
- Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc
- Year:
- 2024
- Authors:
- Davies, Jennifer L et al.
- Affiliation:
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine · Canada
Plain-English summary
This study looked at how veterinarians can better determine the cause of death in beef cattle when they can't send the animals to a lab for testing. Sometimes, veterinarians perform these examinations on the farm, but they often find it harder to reach a clear diagnosis this way. The researchers tested a new method where pathologists helped veterinarians in real-time during these on-farm exams. They found that this assistance led to more accurate diagnoses, and both the veterinarians and pathologists appreciated the support. Overall, the study showed that having pathologist help during on-farm examinations can improve the diagnosis of diseases in beef cattle.
Abstract
Postmortem examination of deceased production animals with appropriate ancillary testing is fundamental to determining causes of morbidity and mortality. Reaching a definitive diagnosis is crucial to evidence-based herd management and treatment decisions that safeguard animal health and welfare, food safety, and human health. However, for a range of reasons, carcasses sometimes cannot be examined in a veterinary diagnostic laboratory. As a result, postmortem examinations of farmed animals, including cattle, are often performed on-farm by the referring veterinarian (rVet) with tissue samples submitted to a veterinary diagnostic laboratory for ancillary testing. For various reasons, field postmortems can be associated with lower diagnostic rates. We investigated real-time pathologist-assisted field postmortem examination (rtPAP) assistance to beef cattle rVets to gauge any improvement in attaining a final diagnosis. We found that rtPAPs improved the success of reaching a final diagnosis compared to unassisted field postmortem examinations. Both the participating bovine rVets and the pathologists saw benefits to the rtPAPs, with bovine rVets indicating that they would utilize this service in the future if available. Our proof-of-concept study demonstrated the positive role of rtPAPs in diagnosing beef cattle disease and speaks to the need for telepathology services supporting food animal rVets and producers.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39152694/