Thank you to all our referring practices for giving us another busy and challenging year. If you have not yet used us then we look forward to getting to know you in 2005.

Eye Clinic Refurbishment

The main opthalmology clinic is based in the small market town of Thornbury, 5 miles north of Bristol, and is currently ungoing refurbishment. The refurbishment will give us a dedicated intraocular surgery theatre, imaging room and electrorertinography suite.

In addition we will now have a conference room for small group teaching and CPD meetings which we hope to make use of in the coming year. We look forward to showing you around when the paint is finally dry!

Services offered include reconstructive plastic surgery, cataract removal by phacoememulsification, electroretinography, ocular ultrasonography, tonometry, gonioscopy, corneal transplant surgery (see picture above) and ocular prosthesis surgery. All species are treated including exotic, equine and livestock (even fish!)

Please ring or email the Opthalmology team for informal case discussion or emergency referrals 24/7.

Equine Vision Centre

Rowe Referrals Equine Vision Centre was launched in October this year and is run by Tim Knott and Brian Patterson who both have a passion for equine Opthalmology. Based at our Equine Clinicn (Watton-Under-Edge), the Vision Centre deals with a wide range of equine eye conditions from cataracts to cancer. The clinic treats animals both at our clinic and by arrangement, at the referring practice. Regular visiting clinics are encouraged and can be arranged through Tim. The Vision Centre is contacted on the Equine Clinic number 01453 844337 or by email at eyes@rowevetgroup.com

Are All MRI Scanners the Same?

The field of advanced diagnostic imaging is constantly evolving. In order tokeep pace with the updates in technology and software we have partnered ourselves with VetMRI to enable us to provide a top-end high field strength MRI scanner (1.8 Tesslas) run by experienced radiographers to help you with your cases. The alternative to the large "closed MRI" system we use is a much smaller "open MRI" system.

These systems are now entering the veterinary market and offer the attraction of a fixed MRI scanner available every day but with a much lower field strength (typically 1.2 Tesslas). The trade off is unfortunately a marked reduction in image resolution and quality which translates into a reduced diagnostic rate. Similar "trade offs" also apply to CT scanner technology. We have partnered ourselves with a major provider of imaging services to the NHS to provide a powerful multi-slice helical CT scanner. This technology allows for the very thin image slices needed for many of our Veterinary patients to be taken quickly and effeciently.

In order to keep up with demand for Ct and MRI we now have additional scanning dates booked for 2005.

Indications for MRI and CT scanning are often similar and both modalities may often be used for the same investigation, however to discuss the technological case please conatct Richard Rowe on 01454 276000 or visit our website.

Common indications include:

• Neurology - MRIs the gold standard for imaging the brain and the spinal cord although CT is still very useful
• Cardiac and pulmonary imaging - CT comes into its own particularly when looking for pulmonary metastais due to the shorter exposure times required compared to MRI
• Joint imaging - particularly complex joints such as the elbow, carpus and tarsus, again CT is a very useful solution.
• Retrobulbar and nasal mass investigation.
• Assessing tumour margins.