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OESCA Open Health Registry:
***NEW***
Message from Dr. Jerold Bell -
CA Clinical Diagnosis vs Necropsy
May 21, 2008
I
have been asked about the advisability of differentiating
clinically diagnosed versus necropsy diagnosed Old English
Sheepdogs with CA on the OESCA Open CA Registry.
It has been my recommendation to parent clubs not to
differentiate between objectively diagnosed dogs in open
registries. In the
past, this recommendation has been accepted by many parent clubs
in their open registries, including the Scottish Terrier Club of
America, Gordon Setter Club of America, and Ibizan Hound Club of
the US.
As
clinicians, Dr. de Lahunta, and I are confident of the clinical
diagnostic protocol. There
has never been a case of a dog labeled BY US with cerebellar
abiotrophy that has not been confirmed with a pathological
diagnosis when the dog has gone to necropsy. This includes
Old English Sheepdogs, Gordon Setters, and Scottish Terriers
diagnosed with CA. Dr.
Olby has also reviewed the submitted videos of clinically
diagnosed CA dogs, and concurs with their diagnoses.
We stand on the validity of the clinical diagnoses, and
welcome the efforts of anyone who questions a diagnosis with
further diagnostic testing (MRI, etc.).
There
are other Old English Sheepdogs that are claimed to have CA.
However, we are not willing to make a clinical diagnosis
and add them to the list without their fulfilling the clinical
diagnostic protocol. As always, I am available to those
owners and breeders to establish a valid clinical diagnosis for
their dogs.
What
is the purpose of differentiating between dogs with clinical
diagnoses and pathological diagnoses? This plays into
the hands of the naysayers that some dogs are called affected, but
are not really affected. Breeders need to deal with the
reality of the dogs that have been determined to be affected with
CA. It is not fair to
an owner or a breeder to be pressured to put their beloved family
member down to gain a pathological diagnosis for the purpose of
the registry, when the track record of the validity of the
clinical diagnosis is sound.
Again,
I am available to anyone to consult on possible cases of
cerebellar abiotrophy in dogs that they own or have bred.
Sincerely,
Jerold S Bell, DVM
Clinical Associate Professor of Genetics
Department of Clinical Sciences
Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
jerold.bell@tufts.edu
phone (860) 749-8348 fax (860) 749-4760
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In 2005,
the OES ranked 69th in AKC Litter Registrations with 1460 litter
registrations; in 2004, the rank was 73rd with 1494 litter registrations.
