Animalius Outpatient Seizure Package – MRI

Animalius is pleased to offer an Outpatient Seizure Package for your stable seizuring patients. The aim is to be able to provide you with additional diagnostic information that will help you to manage your stable patients with rapid access to MRI.

What is included in this package?
As it aims to help you with your straightforward seizing cases, we offer a neurological assessment, blood pressure assessment, PCV, TS, Blood Glucose and electrolyte assessment, followed by MRI and CSF collection (if needed).

Who is it for?
Younger seizing animals (differentials of epilepsy, congenital malformations, inflammatory/infectious disease) and older animals without significant general anaesthesia
complications (DDx neoplasia, epilepsy).

How does it work?
Patients spend the day at Animalius and are admitted through the Radiology team. They will have a neurological assessment with our medicine team, and then progress to general anaesthesia, MRI and CSF collection (if required). They will wake up, be discharged to their owners and return to your practice for ongoing management. We provide a detailed MRI report and all diagnostic test results, usually within 24 hours.

Bookings: Contact our Radiology Team directly to discuss and book, or select the Seizure Package – MRI on our online Radiology Referral Form and we will call you back.

Additional details for referring vets

  • Patients that would not be suitable for this Outpatient package are those that have significant neurological compromise with interictal signs, are systemically unwell, or have significant co-morbidities. These cases require more detailed assessment and pre-procedure planning than is covered with this package and would be best managed internally by our medicine team.
  • How to prepare your clients for what to expect:
    • Patients must be fasted for the procedure and an admission time will be advised by Animalius staff when making the Outpatient MRI appointment
    • Information required: seizure onset age, seizure frequency and severity (ie single seizure events, cluster seizures, history or status epilepticus etc), current drug therapy and results of any blood tests within the last 6 months including serum drug blood concentration if performed.
    • Patients will be admitted by one of our nursing team. After admission we will
      • Check blood pressure, PCV/TS and blood glucose plus electrolyte testing, even if these tests have been previously been performed, as these factors may change rapidly.
      • Perform thoracic auscultation and neurological examination and discuss the case with the anaesthestising veterinarian.
    • Should MRI of the brain be confirmed as the next logical best test for your patient (i.e. nothing has changed since your last assessment), the patient will then be anaesthetised and MRI of the brain performed. CSF will be collected, if indicated.
    • Fur will be shaved for vascular access and an area on the dorsum (neck and/or lumbar spine) for aseptic preparation to enable CSF collection.
  • Results of the bed side testing, neurological examination, MRI, and CSF will be sent to your practice when the information is available.
    • As test results may be available at different times, this information may be sent in separate communications with the CSF cytology results coming directly from the Laboratory service.
    • Any additional testing of the CSF (e.g. culture, PCR for infectious organisms etc) will need to be requested by you directly with the laboratory, with payment from the client arranged by yourselves, unless the patient has required internal referral to another department at Animalius in the meantime.
  • The owner will be advised to arrange an appointment with you and your team to discuss results as your patient will be discharged by one of our nursing team, unless deemed that an internal referral is required.

Given that most patients are stable prior to this appointment being made, additional consultation fees are not expected unless the patient status changes between you sending the referral and the patient being presented for the appointment.

If you are unsure if your patient is suitable for this package, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!