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SAMS 5202

Small Animal Oncology Elective Syllabus

Fall 2002, 0.6 Credit Hours

Course Instructors    

Dr. Nicole Northrup, DVM, DACVIM
Office #221
542-7415
northrup@vet.uga.edu

Dr. Tracy Gieger, DVM, DACVIM
Office #209A
583-8189
tgieger@vet.uga.edu

This course is open to 2nd and 3rd year students and is a prerequisite for the small animal oncology clinical rotation.

Course Objectives

Cancer is the number one cause of death in pet dogs and a major cause of death in pet cats.  The goal of this course is to familiarize you with principles of cancer diagnosis and multimodality therapy in small animal patients. During this course you will develop an approach to diagnosing cancer in pets and determining how advanced the cancer is (clinical staging).  In addition, you will be introduced to treatment options available and appropriate for different types of cancer in cats and dogs.  On completion of this course you should be comfortable discussing cancer, staging, and treatment in general with owners and be able to diagnose, stage, and appropriately treat or refer cancer patients for therapy.  You will also know how/where to find information concerning specific tumor types.

Course Attendance

Attendance is mandatory.  If you must miss a lecture or quiz/exam, please contact the course instructors as soon as possible.  You are encouraged to read course notes prior to each lecture.  Participation during the AQS session is expected.

Recommended Textbook

Small Animal Clinical Oncology.  3rd edition.  Withrow SJ and MacEwen EG, editors. 

WB Saunders.  Philadelphia, PA, 2001.

Grading

AQS Quiz (week 1) 15%

Take-home Quiz (week 2) 25%

Final Examination 60%

Testing Procedures

You will have 10 minutes at the end of the AQS to complete the quiz on diagnosis and staging.  The take-home quiz is open-book and will be distributed at the second Friday lecture and due the following Monday.  The final examination will be 1 hour long and is not open-book.  Quizzes and the final examination will cover information presented in lectures and/or in the course notes.

 

Lecture Schedule

Lecture 1       
Introduction to oncology.  Diagnosis and staging of cancers. Northrup         

Lecture 2       
Principles of oncologic surgery. Cornell

Lecture 3       
AQS (canine oral tumor and feline interscapular mass). Northrup/Gieger

Quiz (diagnosis and staging)                

Lecture 4       
Principles of radiation therapy. Roberts

Lecture 5       
Principles of chemotherapy; chemotherapy safety. Northrup

Lecture 6       
Chemotherapy agent specifics.  Take-home quiz. Gieger

Lecture 7       
Lymphoma. Gieger

Lecture 8        S
oft tissue sarcoma, injection site sarcoma, osteosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma. Northrup

Lecture 9       
Mast cell tumors. Gieger

Final Examination/Course Evaluation

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