AD136 – Advance25 – Medical Oncology in Practice

Learn in your own time with this fully flexible Advance25TM Course.

This entirely online course in Medical Oncology in Practice is specifically designed for vets in practice who want a thorough understanding of the latest updates on oncology in dogs and cats, with a focus on what you can do in practice to improve and prolong good patient quality of life. Through recorded interactive sessions, this course will increase your ability to handle your own medical oncology cases in practice.

Enjoy unlimited access to your course materials for a full 12 months. Get the help you need to deal effectively with your oncology patients.

Complete the course and get your CPD / CE Certificate for 25 Hours of learning.

Use your new knowledge and skills straight away in your practice.
Revisit your course materials at any time during your 12 months’ access to refresh your knowledge whenever you have a relevant patient.

Session 1: The Rational Approach to Cancer Diagnosis, Staging and Restaging / Overview of Chemotherapy Drugs and Mechanisms of Action

How to approach the diagnostic workup of suspected cancer patients in your practice, including use of different imaging modalities, cytology, incisional versus excisional biopsy, and tips on how to read these pathology reports. We will talk about some of the new cancer biomarkers and how these may be used in clinical practice in the future. We will also introduce sentinel lymph node mapping and go through examples of how this modality can help improve your patients’ cancer care.

Session one will also provide you with a thorough understanding of all the common chemotherapy drugs available to you in practice, and how to best utilize these.

Session 2: Lessons in Lymphoma and Leukemia

This session’s first talk will cover diagnosis of lymphoma and leukemia in cats and dogs, including an overview of immunophenotyping / clonality tests (flow cytometry, IHC/ICC, PARR) and how best to utilise these in practice. New diagnostic methods including liquid biopsy will also be discussed. In the second talk we will cover the latest advances in treatment of lymphoma and leukemia in dogs and cats, including the use of Tanovea (rabacfosadine) in dogs. We will also discuss management of high grade versus low grade/indolent lymphomas, including low grade alimentary lymphoma (LGAL) in cats.

Session 3: Round Cell Tumour Roundup

This session’s two talks will cover diagnosis and the latest treatment updates for all the other round cell neoplasms: mast cell tumour, histiocytic sarcoma, plasma cell neoplasia / multiple myeloma, and transmissible venereal tumour, which we are seeing an uptick of cases for in the UK as a result of rescue dogs coming from abroad.

Session 4: Practical Use of Metronomic Chemotherapy and Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in General Practice/Medical Management of Hemangiosarcoma and Osteosarcoma

Session 4 will start with a focus on practical implementation of metronomic chemotherapy and tyrosine kinase inhibitors in general practice. These drugs are good treatment options for a wide range of carcinomas and sarcomas and can be easily incorporated into your clinic’s cancer care offerings. We will cover patient selection, drug options, dosing, possible adverse effects and monitoring.

Medical management of hemangiosarcoma and osteosarcoma will comprise the second half of this session. We will also discuss palliative treatment options for inoperable presentations of these two aggressive cancers that can help improve patient comfort and quality of life.

Session 5: Update on Urothelial Carcinoma /Medical Management of Anal Sac Adenocarcinoma and Hypercalcemia of Malignancy

In session 5 we will cover two of the most common and important epithelial neoplasms: urothelial carcinoma (also known as transitional cell carcinoma) and anal sac adenocarcinoma. Various chemotherapy strategies will be discussed so you can provide your clients with a range of treatment options, with a discussion of complementary multimodal treatment options to prepare you to handle all the different clinical presentations of these cancers. Interventional radiology treatment options for urothelial carcinoma available at some specialty referral centres will be introduced, including urethral and ureteral stenting. We will also work through the medical management of hypercalcemia of malignancy in acute emergency and chronic / palliative settings.

Session 6: Introduction to Electrochemotherapy and Stereotactic Radiotherapy/Management of Chemotherapy Side Effects and Palliative Care

In our last session we will introduce some new advanced cancer treatment modalities now available in the UK: electrochemotherapy (ECT) and stereotactic radiotherapy. ECT can be used to manage many tumour types that traditional radiation therapy would be prescribed for, but has a much lower cost and shorter treatment duration than radiation; it can be a helpful additional treatment option to offer clients that aren’t able to pursue traditional radiation therapy but would still like to pursue more definitive local tumour control. Stereotactic radiotherapy allows for administration of an extremely focused, high dose of radiation directly to a tumour, and can achieve similar or superior outcomes for condition like brain tumours and nasal tumours with only 1-3 treatments in total, compared to traditional hypofractionated radiotherapy. You will learn how these modalities work and what cases are potentially appropriate to consider referral for.

Finally, we will wrap up the course by discussing how to manage chemotherapy complications and side effects, as well as palliative care and hospice interventions for when our patients reach the end of their cancer care journey.

As the course is online, you can take part from anywhere in the world and still enjoy access to the course tutor for discussion and questions. Suitable for all work patterns and all time zones.

What do Vets Say About this Course?

‘I’ve gained confidence and knowledge to treat more patients in practice, and offer options if an owner declines referral.’

Kate Jewson MRCVS

‘Absolutely excellent course. Thoroughly enjoyed all the lectures and have learned so much.’

Nicola Armstrong MRCVS

‘The course very much helped me in probably learning to compromise on certain things so that we can focus the money of the clients to what is really necessary for the treatment. Also it showed me new protocols that I did not use yet so I can offer more options to my clients.’

Hana Vitulova MRCVS

‘Everything was so useful. The way the course was structured, from description of the disease, diagnosis, treatment plans.’

Tutor

Sarah Stewart DVM (Dist) DACVIM (SAIM) PGCertVedEd FHEA MRCVS

Any questions? Call us now on 0151 328 0444