Speaker Marianne Sloet

Marianne Sloet
Professor, Department of Equine Sciences, Utrecht

Marianne M. Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan, DVM (1982, cum laude), PhD (1990), Dip. ECEIM (2001)and Dip. ECVSMR (2019) works now full time as professor of Clinical Equine Internal Medicine at Utrecht University. She is head of Equine Internal Medicine in the Department of Clinical Sciences. She was president of the European College of Equine Internal Medicine 2002-2008 and past-president 2008-2011. She was member of the Council for Animal Affairs from 2010-2018. She is president of the Advisory Committee Equine Welfare and member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee for Equine Emerging diseases.
Prof. Sloet is also veterinary advisor of the Dutch National Equestrian Federation and the Dutch Warmblood studbook (KWPN). She is FEI head veterinarian for the Netherlands.
- Fredag 27 september 2019
  09:50 - 10:30 How to make a dermatological diagnosis in the horse
  The skin is the largest organ in the body and dermatological problems are often encountered in equine practice. A great advantage of skin disorders is that mostly these are readily visible and that the skin is easily accessible when specimens need to be taken. The disadvantage is that many skin disorders resemble one another. The combination of case background, thorough anamnesis and thorough physical examination generally enable the clinician to make a (tentative) diagnosis, which can be confirmed with appropriate additional examination. Skin disorders also have the great advantage that gross lesions and histology slides can easily be photographed digitally. Digital images, together with the case history, extensive anamnesis and thorough physical examination, can then be discussed with colleagues.
  
  11:10 - 11:50 Common things occur commonly and rare things occur rarely …. also in equine dermatology
  In this lecture common and rare cases will be discussed with the audience. Common things are e.g. fungal, bacterial and parasitic infections, sweet itch, and nodular necrobiosis. Rare things are e.g. CPL (chronic progressive lympoedema), pruritus as result of Dermanyssus gallina, leucocytoclastic pastern vasculitis, pemphigus foliaceus and localised sarcoidosis.
  
  14:10 - 14:50 How to support a clinical diagnosis of skin problems in the horse
  A clinical diagnosis of a skin problem often has to be supported by a laboratory tests. In equine practice many of these tests can be performed by the veterinary nurse and for other tests the veterinary nurse can prepare the sample for transport to an appropriate laboratory.
  Collection of hairs, crusts and parasites by skin grooming or a skin scrape will be discussed and the best way to perform microscopical examination will be demonstrated. Sample collection for bacterial culture and PCR for fungi and viruses will be shown. The (im)possibilities of allergy testing will be explained.
  
  15:20 - 16:00 Collection of skin biopsy samples in the horse
  There are various ways of performing a tissue biopsy and it is up to the veterinarian to decide what is the best option. It is important to consider carefully what issues need to be investigated and ensure that a sufficiently large, representative tissue specimen is taken. Then, the veterinary nurse can prepare the procedure and make sure that the necessary equipment and medication is available.
  The least invasive procedure is fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB), but this technique is in the horse often not the best choice. A 4, 6 or 8 mm punch biopsy is somewhat more invasive as it requires local anaesthesia or sedation with an analgesic but histology is often much more informative than cytology. If a larger biopsy is required, a small amount of skin and possibly underlying tissue, is removed (incision biopsy) or a lesion may be removed in its entirety (excision biopsy). This requires better preparation and more equipment. When deeper defects are involved, a Trucut biopsy (core needle tissue biopsy) may be preferred.
  For a biopsy in order to diagnose a skin disorder, surgical preparation (shaving, bathing, disinfecting) is not recommended. However, if an epithelial or mesenchymal neoplasm is suspected, the possible removal of a secondary epidermal change (e.g. a serocellular crust) due to cleaning of the skin is not an issue. When the sample is submitted to a specialist, it should be accompanied not only by the signalment of the case, but also by a detailed anamnesis, a description of the skin lesions and a list of possible differential diagnoses and previous treatment(s). The veterinary nurse can help to obtain all this information and prepare all ‘paperwork’ and a proper package of the sample.