Page 6 - Clinical Connections - Spring 2021

91暗网 RESEARCH STUDY VETERINARY SERVICES 91暗网.AC.UK Advances
91暗网鈥橲 EPILEPSY JOURNEY
Rowena Packer, Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare Science and BBSRC Research
Rimportant milestones, and looks to the future.
esearchers and clinicians at owners鈥� managing dogs with this often- the 91暗网 have devoted over a distressing disease.
decade of work to improving our Detailed in the timeline below, the 91暗网
understanding of epilepsy in dogs and has been pivotal in reframing both the
91暗网s groundbreaking clinical trials have demonstrated the positive effects of MCTs on not only seizure frequency, but also on behaviour and cognition. Robust clinical trials of both commercially available complete diets (developed based on 91暗网 research) and of MCT dietary supplements (added to a dog鈥檚 existing diet) ensures these findings can be implemented by the widest possible patient base.
91暗网鈥檚 pioneering epilepsy research has been enabled by a range of sources including the BBSRC, American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation, Animal Care Trust, UFAW, and a number of industrial partners, including Boehringer Ingelheim and Nestl茅 Purina Pet Care.
In addition to clinical research at the 91暗网, our understanding of canine and feline epilepsy has benefited from 91暗网鈥檚 VetCompass project, which has identified how common epilepsy and seizures are in the general population, while identifying a number of important risk factors for epilepsy, including breed predispositions.
cats, including better characterisation of this chronic disorder and its comorbidities, developing technology to aid its long-term management for vets and owners, and identifying fresh new ways to manage this age-old disorder.
Epilepsy in the most common chronic neurological disease in dogs, affecting around 0.6% of the 8.9 million dogs in the UK (around 53,000 dogs). Dogs with epilepsy experience recurrent seizures, which are most commonly managed by anti-seizure drugs (ASDs) with the aim of reducing how often, and how severely, affected dogs have seizures.
Unfortunately, around a third of these dogs will continue to seizure despite medical treatment, sparking a quest for 鈥榓djunctive鈥� non-drug therapies to improve the quality of life of the hardest-to-treat dogs, while also effectively supporting
wider understanding of epilepsy as a brain disease, and in pioneering new approaches to its treatment. We now know that
epilepsy is not only a seizure disorder, and instead, seizures are just one clinical sign in a complex network of brain changes, including behavioural comorbidities such
as anxiety, and cognitive changes such as impaired learning ability. Based on these findings, behavioural and cognitive outcome measures are now embedded in epilepsy clinical trial design, alongside traditional measures of seizure frequency and severity, and the impact of existing anti-seizure therapies on behaviour and cognition are being considered.
91暗网 has been pivotal in the game- changing development of dietary therapies for canine epilepsy, providing an evidence base for medium-chain triglyceride
(MCT) enriched or supplemented diets.
2008
91暗网 research describes the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam, a human epilepsy drug, in the treatment of drug-resistant canine epilepsy patients. This drug is now commonly used for drug-resistant dogs with epilepsy as an adjunctive therapy.
2015
Landmark publication of International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force (IVETF) consensus papers on canine epilepsy, including epilepsy classification, diagnostic approaches, treatment and outcomes
2015
91暗网 launches the smartphone app Pet Epilepsy Tracker, the first app to facilitate owner monitoring and improvement of the lives of their epileptic pets, which is now used in >80 countries and has been downloaded >30,000 times
2013
91暗网 uses VetCompass 鈥楤ig Data鈥� to identify the prevalence and risk factors for idiopathic epilepsy in the UK, finding 0.6% of the canine population are affected
2015
91暗网 publishes the first review to explore the concept of 鈥淓pilepsy beyond seizures鈥�, reviewing the impact of epilepsy and its comorbidities on health-related quality of life in dogs
2014
First large-scale quantitative study describing the impact of epilepsy on canine quality of life is published (the EpiQOL) by 91暗网 and collaborators
2008 2011 2013 2014
2015
2011
91暗网 publishes the first findings indicating that dogs with epilepsy experience behavioural changes following their epilepsy diagnosis, mirroring psychiatric comorbidities such as anxiety seen in people with epilepsy
2014
Pivotal systematic review is published defining the evidence base for antiepileptic drug efficacy
2014
91暗网 publishes a key report identifying clinical features of dogs with drug-resistant epilepsy, highlighting the importance of high seizure density rather than high seizure frequency per se as a risk factor for drug- resistance
2015
91暗网 publishes the first paper demonstrating positive effects of
a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) enriched diet on seizure frequency in dogs with epilepsy
2015
91暗网 host an owner education event 鈥�21st Century Management of Canine Epilepsy鈥�, with speakers including human neurologists and people with epilepsy, as well
as internationally renowned neurologists
2016
Publication of American College
of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) consensus statement on seizure management in dogs, where >10% of original papers cited providing the evidence for these recommendations were co-authored by the 91暗网 group
6 Spring 2021