Ain't Doin' Right: Use of liquid biopsy in the workup of suspected cancer in the ADR dog is a free veterinary CE offering made possible through the generous educational support of PetDx®.
This course utilizes the archive of a live presentation.
We are all too familiar with the dog that presents because “She’s not herself” or “He’s just off.” We even have a term: “ADR” (ain’t doin’ right) to describe these observations. Maybe she’s sleeping more than usual, or not finishing her meals, or not running to greet the family when they come home - owners know their companions best. We know to pay attention to subtle changes. However, these vague clinical signs can be challenging to work up and the differential list can be quite long.
Cancer is almost always on the list for an older dog but arriving at a cancer diagnosis may require a variety of diagnostic tests or lengthy treatment trials over the course of months. This course discusses how liquid biopsy can, within a matter of days, help move cancer up or down on the list of differential diagnoses and potentially shorten the path to diagnosis in the sick or ADR dog. It reviews common clinical signs of cancer and, using real-world illustrative cases, demonstrates how the use of blood-based liquid biopsy testing early in the diagnostic workup has helped veterinarians and families avoid the “diagnostic odyssey” on the path to a definitive diagnosis.
After completion of this course, the student should be able to:
- identify common clinical signs of cancer
- describe basic principles of cancer development and how next-generation sequencing-based liquid biopsy can be used to detect cancer in dogs
- assess clinical scenarios in which liquid biopsy is useful as an aid in diagnosis for cancer, with a focus on canine patients with nonspecific signs – AKA the “ADR dog”
- review appropriate interpretation of liquid biopsy results in the aid in diagnosis scenario
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