13 Jun 2024
The department at the University of Glasgow’s Small Animal Hospital is set to introduce vCreate, which can be used for research, remote diagnosis and management of epilepsy.
James Westgate
Job Title
Image: Cedric Clth via Pixabay
A seizure clinic created to provide a more holistic approach to the management of epilepsy in companion animals is about to launch a secure video service.
The clinic was established at the the University of Glasgow’s Small Animal Hospital in 2023 and is run by European specialists in neurology who provide advice, information and support to give owners a better understanding on how to live with an epileptic pet.
The complexity of epilepsy and some of the common misconceptions around the condition can, however, mean dealing with the condition can lead to frustration and social isolation.
In a bid to tackle this issue, the clinic is set to launch a secure clinical video service, called vCreate, which can be used for research, remote diagnosis, management and decision making and will allow pet owners to upload videos of their pets’ abnormal behaviour.
Clinicians are alerted every time a video is uploaded and can directly feed back information to the owners via the system, which clinicians hope will develop into a central clip library from which they can also send videos to owners for educational purposes.
Apart from its clinical work, the clinic is also involved in research via the epilepsy research centre, which strives to facilitate diagnosis through better phenotyping and using genomics and metabolomics to optimise current treatment options, and investigate novel seizure control strategies.
The clinic started enrolling patients in 2023 and the hard launch will begin with an epilepsy support evening on 22 July to provide knowledge, share experiences and offer a space for owners with epileptic pets to meet others.
Neurologist Jos Bongers said: “We are hoping for a shift in epilepsy management in which we can step away from the conventional medical management and move towards a multimodal holistic approach.
“Epilepsy genotyping and phenotyping, providing support to owners with epileptic pets and investigating novel treatment strategies, are all areas we will focus on over the next period and we hope to involve pet owners, general practitioners, diplomate veterinary neurologists and human neurologists. These are exciting times for The University of Glasgow Small Animal Hospital.”
The seizure clinic is open every Monday except for bank holidays – for more information visit the website.
