The EVSSAR course at the UPWr Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

The European masterclass course on small animal reproduction will take place in Poland for the first time in the 30-year history of the European Veterinary Society for Small Animal Reproduction (EVSSAR). The event lasting from 9th to 13th October is organized at the Department of Reproduction at the UPWr Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. – These are very prestigious courses which, up to till now, have been organized in England, France or Switzerland, sometimes in Italy. In Poland it will take place for the first time and this means that we and our center have earned great trust – says professor Wojciech Niżański responsible for the organization of the reproduction course. – We’ve got a great team, conditions, equipment, clinical experience, possibilities and we are recognizable in the world. We have done enormous work because, after all, Bern, Paris, Zurich or London are much more obvious locations for western people than Wrocław.

The course is aimed at both scientists and practitioners. During five days of intensive training the participants will learn advanced procedures used in gynecology, andrology and technologies of aided reproduction of small animals – mainly dogs and cats. – The course will begin with a theoretical introduction – describing characteristics of the ovarian cycle – and later we are going to discuss diagnostic techniques. We will start from a clinical examination and then we’ll go on to the cytology of the reproductive system, histology, endoscopic examination or biopsies. And this is one of the aims of the course – to teach its participants, that is veterinary doctors, how to perform these examinations as they are not easy to carry out whether it’s a cat or a dog. Here they will find out for which examination the animal may be simply tamed, which requires anesthetics and when it might be necessary to apply general anesthesia. - explains professor Niżański.

As the Polish organizers of the European course on small animal reproduction admit, their graduates know one another very well and form the genuine elite of the profession. The majority of them meet at international symposiums, publish in specialist periodicals – even if they are practitioners and not scientists. – Anyway, such is the aim of organizing the course by EVSSAR – constant skill improvement and creating an experience-sharing platform – adds the Head of the Reproduction Department.

During the five days of classes the participants will go on from theory to practical classes in the clinic. Classes will be divided into groups and at the end a case-study discussion is planned. – Each lecturer is going to talk about their own particular cases but we know from previous courses that participants also bring their own which they are particularly eager to analyze. Therefore, we will discuss what diagnosis we gave what the cause of the illness is and how we treat it – explains professor Wojciech Niżański, adding that the reproductive problems of small animals are similar to those of humans because the animals are affected by the same adverse civilizational factors such as food preservatives, environmental pollution and substances present in water, food and soil which impact hormonal profile and, as a result, diminish reproductive potential.

The Wrocław course starts on 9th October and will be attended by veterinary doctors specializing in small animal reproduction coming from, among others, Norway, Finland, Austria, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Holland, Germany, Great Britain, Thailand and, of course, Poland. After the course the organizers plan to hold the XIII Congress concerning problems in reproduction of small animals. The Congress is organized annually by the UPWr Department of Reproduction, Polish Small Animal Veterinary Association, Veterinary Sciences and Reproductive Biology Committee of Polish Academy of Sciences, Reproductive Biology Association and Lower Silesian Chamber of Veterinary Medicine.

The main topics of this year’s Congress are: birth defects, USG imaging and Color Doppler in reproduction, prostate pathologies, pathology of pregnancy and labor, neonatology and oncology in reproduction. 420 people from Poland, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, Lithuania and Norway declared their participation in six thematic groups – the largest number any EVSSAR event has ever had. Topics particularly stressed in the Congress programs are: genetic bases and ways of inheriting development anomalies in small animals, advanced analyses of vascular flow as well as improving diagnostics and effective oncological therapy.

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