UC Davis treats uncommon AVM in German shepherdJuly 10, 2018Crash, a six-year-old male German shepherd, was starting to tire more easily on his walks and seemed zoned out and listless, according to his owners, Sally Fuess and Steve Yant from Boulder Creek, Calif. He also displayed signs of what were perceived as severe headaches. He would "bury" his head and squint his eyes, suggesting that something was bothering him. Those headache signs started occurring more frequently and affected his overall well-being. "It was like watching someone have a massive migraine and be nonfunctioning," said Fuess. "The bigger the headaches, the more disorientated he would become. His hearing would get distorted, his perception … all his senses were affected." Fuess and Yant discussed this with an internal medicine specialist who was already treating Crash for some unrelated gastrointestinal issues. The veterinarian performed an MRI of Crash's head that revealed an intracranial arteriovenous malformation (AVM) located within the brain behind his eyes. A consultation with Bill Culp, VMD, DACVS, at the University of California, Davis veterinary hospital was arranged. Redirecting the blood flow "AVMs, in general, are very uncommon in veterinary patients," said Dr. Culp. "A brain AVM is extremely rare and not a situation that I have encountered before. Because …
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UC Davis creates 3D printed mask for dog with fractured skullDecember 6, 2017Loca, a 4-month-old female Staffordshire bull terrier, was bitten by another dog so severely that her right zygomatic arch (cheekbone) and mandible (jawbone) were fractured, and her temporomandibular joint (TMJ) suffered extensive damage. In addition, there were multiple puncture wounds on her face and neck. University of California, Davis, veterinary hospital Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service (DOSS) faculty members Frank Verstraete, BVSc, DrMedVet, MMedVet, and Boaz Arzi, DVM, DAVDC, DEVDC, and resident Colleen Geisbush, DVM, saw promising aspects to this challenging case. First, Loca was young, which meant there was a good chance that the damage to the TMJ could correct itself with natural bone regrowth. Second, this case offered them the opportunity to utilize a new face mask they developed with biomedical engineering students. Designed to be used as a cast for a fractured skull while it heals, the mask was the result of a long-standing collaboration between the oral surgeons and the UC Davis College of Engineering. To assist with surgery preparation, DOSS has used COE's Biomedical Engineering (BME) Department many times over the years to 3D print skull models in BME's Translating Engineering Advances to Medicine (TEAM) Laboratory. Recently, DOSS has been working with BME …
