Diagnostic imaging techniques are an important part of the diagnostic workup and staging of cancer patients. Ultrasound is of particular interest in this respect. In so far as tumor metastases are concerned, ultrasonography of regional lymph nodes and of the liver can provide valuable information. In humans many criteria, some of them objective, have been evaluated as indicators of malignancy. The most diagnostically helpful of these include the short/long axis ratio of the lymph node, the pattern of distribution of the blood vessels within the lymph node, and to some extent the calculated values for resistive and pulsatility indices. Putative objective criteria to improve the specificity of ultrasound for metastases detection in the liver have also been evaluated. These include perfusion indices, primarily using analysis of Doppler frequencies (Doppler perfusion index) and hepatic venography using an ultrasound contrast agent. Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography is a new and promising area to help the initial diagnosis and characterization of malignancy, particularly for focal lesions in the liver. This review discusses the use of ultrasound for detection of metastases and presents material from four veterinary cases.

Current and prior veterinary cancer registries are few in number and scattered. Different inclusion criteria, dissimilar collection methods and variable reference population estimation methods pose obstacles in the comparisons between veterinary and human cancer registries. Veterinary cancer registries have yielded information on the risk and incidence of different cancer types in certain breeds and geographical regions, as well as provided information on genetic and environmental risk factors in some cancers. The objective of this article is to review the prior and current veterinary cancer registries, the information they have contributed and to discuss different issues relating to their structure including inclusion criteria, study populations, reference populations utilized in evaluations, recorded variables and the outcome from these.

Linking spring migratory itineraries of individual Arctic-breeding geese to their eventual breeding success has provided evidence that accumulation of body stores (protein, fat) at stop-over sites is crucial. We show that this is because geese nesting in the Arctic depend at least in part on these stores for synthesis of eggs and supporting incubation (for the female, a phase of starvation). Estimates of the body stores needed for successful reproduction (eggs + incubation) in relation to measured rates of accumulation of these stores make clear that meeting the demands solely by feeding at the breeding grounds is not an option for geese. The time constraint does not allow this, because early laying is a necessity in the Arctic to ensure survival of the progeny. Although the parents can exploit the early spring growth along the flyway, they get ahead of the wave of growth when they arrive on the breeding site and hence the parental timetable can only be met by drawing on body stores. Results from tracking studies in six goose species underline the conclusion that egg formation commences along the flyway before arrival at the nesting colony. In some cases, signatures of stable isotopes in egg components and parental body tissues in relation to the signature in forage plants support the notion of a mixed endogenous/exogenous origin. The close match between migratory timing and the spring flush of plant foods makes geese particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. There is an increasing mismatch along the NE Atlantic Flyway, where a warming trend in NW Europe conflicts with stable or even cooling trends in the Arctic target areas.

A marked consistency was demonstrated between the clinical diagnosis of seizure type and the type of abnormalities observed in the EEG, thus indicating that EEG is a valuable diagnostic aid in confirming the diagnosis of epilepsy in dogs. EEG findings in dogs with epilepsy and humans with this disorder were markedly similar.

The renin-angiotensin system has important pathophysiologic implications in the development of congestive heart failure. The activity of the renin-angiotensin system early in the course of heart disease and heart failure in dogs was evaluated by measuring the plasma renin activity (PRA) and plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) in 1 8 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels with asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic mitral valvular insufficiency, and in 1 8 healthy Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. All dogs were unmedicated and had no other diseases. The PRA was high in the dogs with mitral valvular insufficiency (median 3.44 ng/mL/h, interquartile interval 2.59 to 8.66 ng/mL/h) compared with the controls (median 2.51 ng/mL/h, interquartile interval 1.44 to 3 . 5 8 ng/mL/h). The PAC was also higher in the eart failure is characterized by several compensatory H neuroendocrine mechanisms that cause vasoconstriction and renal retention of salt and water. One of the most important mechanisms in this respect is the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Renin, released primarily from the kidneys, cleaves the decapeptide angiotensin I off circulating angiotensinogen. Angiotensin I is then quickly converted to the active octapeptide angiotensin I1 by angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). Angiotensin I1 is a potent vasoconstrictor. Furthermore, this hormone causes sodium and water retention in the kidneys, and induces the synthesis of aldosterone in the adrenal glands.Blocking the RAS with the ACE inhibitor enalapril markedly reduces cardiac mortality in human patients with severe heart failure.' Similar results have been reported by the Cooperative Veterinary Enalapril (COVE) study group in dogs with moderate to severe heart failure caused by dilated cardiomyopathy or mitral valvular insufficiency (MVI).' Mortality also decreases when enalapril is administered to cuman patients with mild to moderately severe heart failure.' Even in people with asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction, treatment with enalapril decreases the frequency of heart failure and related hospitalization^.^ It is now increasingly common for veterinarians to pre-