Page 11 - Animal Care Trust Annual Review 2018-2019

OUR IMPACT ON...NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES
Neurological diseases such as brain tumours and epilepsy affect many of the patients seen by veterinary surgeons at the RVC Small Animal Referrals Hospital. Such diseases also affect the families and communities of RVC clients and effective diagnosis and treatment remains a key area of unmet need in veterinary and human care.
Over the last 30 years, significant advances in neurological disease research have come from examining human and animal brain tissue. However, there is an acknowledged lack of brain tissue available to researchers globally. In human medicine, this resource gap is now being successfully addressed by the creation of the UK Brain Banks Network, which ensures human brain tissue is readily accessible to researchers from any related discipline.
Thanks to your support, the RVC has been able to establish a Companion Animal Brain Bank (CABB). This is enabling internationally regarded researchers at the RVC to collect and store samples of brain tissue and other biological specimens for research and educational purposes. These samples of brain tissue represent a previously unutilised, precious research commodity that can now be collected and archived together with whole blood, serum, plasma, urine, CSF, DNA and RNA.
Routine collection of companion animal brain tissue has benefits for future patients diagnosed with neurological disease, the attending clinicians, students working with the cases and the research community as a whole, which can access the bank.
Explaining the benefits of the CABB within RVC Small Animal Referrals, Dr Abbe Crawford, Staff Clinician in Neurology and Neurosurgery, said: “Many animals that are euthanised due to neurological diseases do not have a definitive diagnosis, which can be distressing for owners and frustrating for clinicians. The CABB could provide such a diagnosis – routine collection of companion animal brain tissue facilitates a more accurate neuropathological diagnosis, including distribution and grading of lesions.”
“Knowing that their animals are contributing to disease understanding and scientific advancement can provide comfort to many owners at the difficult time of losing a pet. Furthermore, by actively discussing and implementing brain banking at the RVC, the team hopes to open new avenues of tissue archiving across neurology and other disciplines.” Abbe Crawford, Staff Clinician in Neurology
and Neurosurgery
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