ESAVS is delighted to organize this new course on Small Mammal Diagnostic Imaging and Medicine. The small mammal courses have been totally reorganized since the first sessions in 2021 with new topics and new lecturers. This course is design for practitioners who already work with small mammals and who are willing to improve their knowledge and practice in this topic. The course will be illustrated by several clinical cases, and the lecturers will always pay attention to share with the participants the latest evidence-based data published and emphasize clinical application of these publications.

The first part of the course will focus on diagnostic imaging with lectures presenting radiography (including contrast), ultrasound techniques and radio anatomy in order to finely interpret the images. The CT scan and MRI lecture will focus on reasonable but necessary indications to perform these diagnostics and interpretations of the main lesions. These lectures will lead to an interactive clinical cases session and an ultrasound wet lab where the participants will be trained to perform abdominal ultrasounds on different live small mammal species.

The second part of the course will be on medicine with lectures on cardiology, pneumology, uro-nephrology, gastroenterology, reproduction, ophthalmology, dermatology, neurology and oncology. During these lecture, new and emerging diseases will be presented as well as updates on common diseases in order to give practical tools the practitioners to be able to improve the medical management of their patients. These lectures will lead to an interactive clinical cases session and a wetlab on cadavers about noninvasive endoscopy (oculoscopy, otoscopy, rhinoscopy, esophagoscopy, gastroscopy, coloscopy, cystoscopy on rabbits and guinea pigs).

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

1. Interpret skull, thoracic and abdominal radiographs in small mammals.
2. To perform and interpret an abdominal ultrasound in small mammals.
3. To prescribe and to interpret major lesions on CT scan and MRI in small mammals.
4. To diagnose and to treat the most important medical diseases in small mammals.
5. To perform noninvasive endoscopy in rabbits and guinea pigs.

Main topics:

Radiography. Contrast radiography. Abdominal ultrasound. Introduction to CT scan and MRI.
Cardiology, pneumology, uro-nephrology, gastroenterology, reproduction, ophthalmology, dermatology, neurology and oncology.
Noninvasive endoscopy.

Wetlabs:

Abdominal ultrasound on small mammals supervised by small mammal and diagnostic imaging instructors.
Noninvasive endoscopy in rabbits and guinea pigs.

Journal clubs, discussions and controversies:

Principles of evidence-based medicine in small mammal and its use in clinics.
Two one-hour recorded webinars will be perform at 1 month and 2 months after the course. The topic will be decided depending on the demands of the participants.

This course is not for beginners in small mammal practice, but for practitioners who are already receiving small mammals on a regular basis. It is a cases-oriented course, presenting clinical data from the latest literature and illustrated with clinical cases.

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