WATERBURY – Teikyo Post University’s Equine Program is sponsoring a weekend seminar on Veterinary Infrared Thermography (IRT) as an introduction for a two-week course to be offered later in the year.

The seminar will be held Friday, June 11, through Sunday, June 13.

Dr. Donna Harper, a veterinarian from New Mexico and a certification candidate of the American Board of Thermology, will be conducting this seminar. Dr. Harper has experience with a wide variety of companion animals, but specializes in work with horses, including hunter-jumper, dressage, western event horses, and both quarter and thoroughbred racehorses.

Infrared thermography is being used to evaluate lameness and neurological problems in small animals; however, its most widely known use is in the field of equine medicine. Areas of equine medicine where IRT is being effectively used include preventative medicine and prediction of soundness, diagnostics and treatment, and prognostics and rehabilitation.

Infrared thermography is a completely non-invasive diagnostic tool. Unlike other diagnostic methods such as x-ray and ultrasound, IRT does not result from the infrared camera emitting any type of waves, rays, radiation, or other form of energy. Instead, IRT is the result of the IR camera capturing a specified portion of infrared length light waves (commonly referred to as “invisible heat” wavelengths) that are emitted by all animate and inanimate objects having a temperature that is above absolute zero. A camera captures these infrared or “heat” wavelengths on a wavelength-specific detector.  The invisible heat information gathered by the detector is then turned into electronic data, which is recorded and used to produce an infrared picture or “image.”

The entire process is quite similar to using a digital camera to take photographs and then displaying the resulting pictures in a software program on your computer. These IR software programs have the added ability to allow the thermographer to manipulate the images in order to gain additional information about thermal patterns in each image. The end result is a report that details the abnormalities found in the infrared images that were taken. Knowing the location of these abnormalities helps the veterinarian diagnose what has happened to the horse being examined.

In addition, early detection of significant temperature change is the basis for the use of IRT as a monitor in highly stressed equine athletes: it allows for detection of injuries before they become advanced enough to threaten the horse’s career.

Veterinary Infrared Thermography (IRT) is a valuable tool in evaluating and maintaining soundness in equine athletes as well as providing information about an individual horse’s overall condition. Additionally its uses in small animal diagnostics should advance in the future as more veterinarians explore its potential.

This seminar will introduce the use of infrared thermography in veterinary diagnostics to the public and, on a more technical level, to those interested in employing it in the field.

·Session I: Will be held Friday and Saturday evenings and is open to the general public (fee: $50). The first evening will cover information on Veterinary IRT. The second evening will have a demonstration with a live patient.

·Session II: Will meet all day Saturday (participation in Session I required, fee: $100). This will cover general information on how to conduct an acceptable infrared examination on animals; and the use of the camera.

·Session III: Will meet all day Sunday and is open to veterinarians or sponsored veterinary technicians only (fee: $100). This session will cover the use of IRT in daily diagnostics as well as image interpretation and case presentations on a more scientific level.

The proposed full-length instructional course, slated for the fall, would be two weeks in length. This would be followed by monitoring of participants’ work in the field over an extended period, leading to potential certification as a veterinary thermographic technician.

Training of veterinarians in IRT interpretation can also be arranged through this program.

For information, contact Carole Baker at Teikyo Post University at (203) 596-4631 or email cbaker@teikyopost.edu. Dr. Harper can be contacted at info@vet-therm.com.