Get the most value out of your IDEXX VetLab® system

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NEW for the IDEXX VetLab® Station

New and better organized information for easy comparisons

We have reorganized the IDEXX VetLab Station report to help you make comparisons and easily identify trends and abnormalities.

• A new column shows your patient’s most recent prior results for easy comparison with current results.

• Easy comparison of results over time on a single printout helps you recognize subtle abnormalities, allowing you to diagnose diseases at earlier stages.

• The primary chemistries for each organ are grouped together, making it easier to identify organ-specific abnormalities that might otherwise be overlooked.

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Ongoing monitoring recommendations for patients affected by the pet food recall
by Dennis B. DeNicola, DVM, PhD, DACVP and Jane Robertson, DVM, DACVIM, and Fred Metzger, DVM, DABVP

The massive pet food recall has affected animals and practices across the United States and Canada. IDEXX is offering practical suggestions and information to help veterinary practices deal with an unprecedented number of clinically ill patients and concerned pet owners. This section contains some of the information provided in our new Pet Food Recall Web site, which includes monitoring guidelines, a list of recommended tests, additional resources and answers to frequently asked questions. Visit www.idexx.com/pfr for more information.

Pet Food Recall Q&A

Question: What should I test in an exposed nonclinical dog or cat?

Answer: A complete urinalysis with detailed microscopic examination of the urine is critical. Melamine appears to be associated with the formation of distinctive crystals that may serve as a marker of potential renal tubular injury. With significant loss of renal function, increases in creatinine, urea and phosphorus may be seen as well as electrolyte (Na, K, Cl and tCO2) disturbances with possible acid-base changes; therefore, these parameters should be evaluated.

Collection of a baseline data set of a complete blood count, a general clinical chemistry health profile and a complete urinalysis are recommended to enable following both clinically ill and healthy animals. This data can be used to monitor disease progression or as objective data points for early detection of future disease. Serial data evaluation provides a more sensitive indicator of disease status. This is especially important with renal disease, where enzyme changes are elevated outside of the reference range only with considerable loss of renal function.

Question: What are your recommendations for testing clinical versus nonclinical dogs and cats exposed to recalled food?

Answer: We are recommending the same testing regardless of clinical presentation. Because the clinical signs associated with renal disease are often subtle and usually seen only after significant renal function loss, testing is critical in all exposed pets. In the clinically ill pet, we need to monitor disease progression (or regression) and in the clinically healthy patient we want to screen for any underlying or developing problem(s). Moreover, a complete data base allows you to screen for many disease states, not just renal disease—as well as establish a useful baseline for future testing. Until we know more about this problem, we cannot be sure that renal disease is the only disease state associated with the contaminated foods.

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Analyte trending is an effective indicator of disease
by Dennis B. DeNicola, DVM, PhD, DACVP

Monitoring analyte values over time is extremely underutilized in veterinary medicine. Serially following changes in various chemistry profiles and hematologic measurements can prove to be extremely helpful to identify early developing disease, whether it be naturally occurring disease or potential disease induced by long-term medications. The reference intervals are quite broad for most analytes; however, individual animal analyte values typically are maintained within relatively tight ranges during periods of good health. Therefore, when slight changes are noted in an increasing or decreasing trend, this should prove effective in early detection of developing problems.

Yearly serial monitoring of creatinine values in a healthy animal is an excellent example of where trending can prove helpful. This parameter is a relatively constant predictor of renal glomerular filtration. Its concentration is based on both total muscle mass, which is relatively constant in most animals during health, and renal excretion capabilities, assuming that hydration status is relatively constant. Detecting slowly increasing creatinine concentrations year after year in a clinically healthy and normally hydrated animal is a great predictor of developing disease. Because creatinine values may not increase above the reference interval until there is loss of three-quarters of renal function, an isolated creatinine measurement is a relatively insensitive measure of renal function.

The graph below of serial changes in creatinine concentration in a clinically normal cat demonstrates this point extremely well. The majority of the creatinine values are within the reference interval and individually would be of no concern, especially if there was evidence of concentrating ability based upon evaluation of urine-specific gravity during the complete urinalysis each year. Even the last value that is only slightly out of the reference range would likely be interpreted as being insignificant in a clinically normal cat. A potential explanation for this increase would be that this animal is within that “third standard deviation” from the clinically normal group of cats and that this value is normal for this cat, or that there might be slight clinically undetectable dehydration. However, in following the serial changes over time, a clear decreased glomerular filtration rate and renal function can be observed.

Trending is not only useful in predicting early developing disease in various organ systems, it is also extremely helpful in monitoring the progression or regression of disease. Trending analyte changes over time proves to be an extremely objective measure of progression or regression of disease. For example, a continually decreasing ALT value over time following the identification of clinically significant hepatocellular injury indicates a probable resolution to the injury. Maintained high values or increasing values indicate ongoing hepatocellular injury or increased hepatocellular injury, respectively.

If your practice does not currently have the capability to easily monitor trends, IDEXX can help. The IDEXX VetLab® Station allows you to save your results so you can quickly access them for effortless graphing and trends assessment.

For more information, call 1-800-248-2483 or visit us online at www.idexx.com/vetlab.

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Meet Dr. William Wallen
IDEXX Chief Scientific Officer
Senior Vice President
Research and Development

Dr. Wallen, or Bill, as his coworkers know him, has been at IDEXX for 3 1/2 years. He was attracted to the growing veterinary industry following decades in the human medical industry. He found that the ability to integrate the array of sciences that are present at IDEXX into a group of products that positively impact disease management and improve the practice of medicine was an opportunity too appealing to pass up.

As CSO, Bill is responsible for all of the technologies deployed at IDEXX. He oversees the internal product development programs, the technologies used and the external technology partnerships established to create new products and upgrade existing ones.

Bill views IDEXX as offering a uniquely broad range of solutions to the veterinary medical community. “Our ability to design and develop integrated solutions across IDEXX’s many lines of business provides an opportunity to increase a practice’s efficiency at the same time that it improves its ability to manage and treat disease,” says Bill. “IDEXX continues to develop new and novel products for disease diagnosis and treatment, bringing all of the needed modalities together in the strongest and most efficient manner for the clinician. This enables veterinarians to practice medicine at the state-of-the-art level while at the same time improving the profitability of their practices.”

Bill adds, “I feel very good about being able to bring the cross-business interests together to help leverage their individual strengths into an even stronger integrated capability. This ability gives IDEXX a unique position in our field.”

Bill and his wife, Sandra, live in Freeport on Maquoit Bay, the north area of Casco Bay. They enjoy cruising Maine’s waterways on their boat and exploring the surrounding areas. The Wallens have two sons, Todd and Steve, who both have graduated and work in Miami, and a 6-year-old golden lab named Homer.

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See your SNAP® test results on your IDEXX VetLab® report

The new software version 2.20 will allow you to transform many of your record-keeping workflows and seamlessly integrate your SNAP test results into the same database and printout as your IDEXX VetLab diagnostic information.

For the first time, you can now store your SNAP test results electronically, generate a complete and inclusive patient report and automatically upload your SNAP test results into your practice management system for proper billing and incorporation into your electronic medical records.

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IDEXX Customer Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Toll-free: 1-800-248-2483
Fax: 1-800-248-3010

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