Modeling Veterinary Medicine to New Dimensions and Making the Scalpel Obsolete
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Some people may take them for granted but there are certain aspects of our everyday life that I find to be mini wonders of the world…how bridges stay up, communications can be instantaneous ½ way around the world with only a small handheld device, the disembodied know it all can guide me on a road trip with only the occasional ‘recalculating’ prompt and how veterinary dentists at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine have been able to use 3-D printers to construct models of an animal skull…Amazing.
Dr. Boaz Arzi is my guest today. We are going to chat about collaborative efforts of engineers and veterinarians at UC Davis to improve the health of animals and people.
In medical circles, there is a common adage amongst surgeons…a chance to cut is a chance to cure. If it is up to my guest, Dr. Bill Culp of UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, that phrase may become antiquated in some veterinary surgical situations. Dr. Culp is a board certified veterinary surgeon who is foregoing the blade and using radiology to treat conditions previously thought to be inoperable.
Questions or comments? Email Dr.Cruz at: thepetdoctor@petliferadio.com.
Boaz Arzi, DVM, DAVDC
Dr. Boaz Arzi was born in Israel. He graduated from Szaint Istvan University, Budapest, Hungary in 2002 with a degree in Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Arzi returned to Israel to become a partner in a small animal veterinary hospital in Haifa, where he completed five years of intensive clinical practice. He then completed the residency training program in Dentistry and Oral Surgery at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. In the summer of 2010, Dr. Arzi joined Dr. Athanasiou’s lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering as a post-doc fellow, working on bioengineered fibrocartilage spectrums and their surgical applications. In addition, he also maintains a clinical appointment as a staff veterinarian at the Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, and his main interests include maxillofacial reconstruction, tissue engineering, and microsurgical techniques. Dr. Arzi became a Diplomate of the American Veterinary Dental College in 2012.
William T. N. Culp, VMD, DACVS
Dr. William (Bill) Culp graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine in 2004. After graduation from veterinary School, he remained at the University of Pennsylvania to complete a rotating internship in small animal medicine and surgery followed by a surgical residency. Dr. Culp is board-certified as a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, and he has pursued additional training in cancer surgery at the Colorado State University Animal Cancer Center, during which he completed a Surgical Oncology Fellowship.
Dr. Culp is currently a member of the soft tissue surgery service at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. He is interested in many areas of soft tissue surgery, but his major focuses are surgical oncology and interventional radiology. Surgical oncology focuses on utilizing advanced surgical techniques to treat cancer in veterinary patients. Interventional radiology is a newly developing field in veterinary medicine that utilizes diagnostic imaging (mostly fluoroscopy) to treat disease processes in veterinary patients in a minimally invasive manner. Interventional radiology allows for treatment options in cases that previously may have been considered untreatable. These two specialties will allow for advanced, minimally invasive treatments to be pursued for veterinary cancer and non-cancer patients. Diseases of particular interest to Dr. Culp include malignant obstructions (cancer resulting in blockage of the urethra, trachea, esophagus, and colon), non-resectable tumors (tumors that cannot be removed with traditional surgical techniques), tumors that can be treated with direct delivery of chemotherapy to their blood vessels, vascular abnormalities (portosystemic shunts, arteriovenous malformations) and tumors causing blockage of the ureter.
www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vmth/small_animal/dentistry
www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vmth/small_animal/surgery
www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/whatsnew/article.cfm?id=2691
