Today me and Katrine visited the Oncology Department at NC State University’s Veterinary School. Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. We arrived at 7:50 in the morning and were escorted into the back area of the department. We were shown to the conference room for the Oncology Department where we met the Veterinary Doctors and the Student who work there. We shadowed the only Veterinary Student in the department today. There were two incoming patients today. We greeted them both. The patients we worked with today were both very friendly. We watched as the Veterinary Student did the primary assessment of the patients when they were brought from the lobby into the first set of rooms. Then we followed the dogs into the back with the Veterinarian and the Student to watch them take the dogs temperature and a blood test. On one of the patients we got to look at the sample taken from the problem area while the Veterinarian described what we were looking at. We learned that most of the time spent working as a veterinarian will be spent talking of possible tests and the pros and cons of that test for the patient with the patients owner. We also saw how Veterinarians also suggest certain tests to look for specific problems, or to make sure there is no problem in a given area. We then talked to one of the head Veterinarians in the department about the different types of cancer, and which affect cats or dogs more. A fun fact we learned that cats with MTC or Mass Tissue Cells (A Tumor) in the spleen is that even if that tumor has released cancerous cells into the blood stream, when the spleen is removed those levels drop. Another thing we discussed with him was how to help find treatments for certain human cancers researchers would look into a similar type of cancer in dogs. This is because dogs have a shorter lifespan and so the process of cancer is shorter in them as well. This can allow for new treatments in both animals and humans to be created at a quicker rate. The problem with these studies is that while there may be hundreds of human samples, there may only be a few canine samples in a study. Another problem in these animal case studies is euthanasia. To end their pets suffering an owner may decide to have a patient put down so that they don’t have to suffer any longer. Usually though this patient is then removed from the case study. We discussed the most common forms of cancer found in dogs, one being Lymphoma which is also a common childhood cancer. In the afternoon the Head Veterinarian we had been talking to earlier showed us around the Veterinary Campus as well as the Hospital. We saw the Surgical, Radiology, ER, Pharmaceutical, and many other departments. There were many patients there today. After that we went into Rounds which is where each person who has a case or cases reports on the diagnosis and treatments of patients. It was quite interesting. While we had only worked with two patients, we got to here about how other patients were doing and what the recommended treatment of that patient was. At the end of the day we helped bring out our patients back to their owners while the Veterinarian explained the diagnosis, what treatment they would probably need, and if they needed more testing done. Overall it was both a fun and interesting day.
