Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING] - OK, Dr. Olson, how are you today? Let's get you miked up. Let me clip this up here. 

- All right. 

MAN (ON PHONE): Peter, that was set. 

- Make a soundcheck. All right, test, one, two, good. 

- Hi, I'm Drew Olson. I'm a practicing veterinarian and co-founder of drip.vet. In those roles, I've been particularly interested in understanding the roles of opioids in veterinary medicine and what alternative treatments there may be, if any, particularly given the opioid crisis that's impacted so many lives in such harsh ways. 

I don't know if you're familiar with it, but this book, The Servant, a Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership by James C. Hunter, has quickly become one of my personal foundational touchstones. In it, Hunter highlights two important components of leadership, the task and the surrounding relationships. 

Before we talk about the task, let's first take a quick look at this 2020 proposed model regulation released by the American Association of State Boards on the appropriate use of opioids. The commentary section points out that, "opioids and other controlled substances can be very useful for pain management and the control of other conditions in animals, but they have a high potential for misuse, addiction, and overdose death in humans." 

Then, they get right into how the opioid crisis intersects with veterinary medicine. "Veterinarians prescribe, dispense, administer, and stock many of the same opioid drugs that have the potential to be diverted and abused by humans. Therefore, the veterinary community needs to be part of the effort to address this national crisis." 

Now, back to the task. The AAVSP model regulations lay it out pretty succinctly in section 2, part C. Before initiating treatment, nonpharmacological and non-opioid treatment shall be given consideration prior to treatment with an opioid. Put another way, our task as veterinarians is to join the effort to address the national opioid epidemic and to consider what legitimate nonpharmacologic options are out there for us in veterinary medicine. 

Could photobiomodulation play a role? And now, what about relationships? This is a big task. And photobiomodulation is not an easy subject to understand, let alone pronounce. So I'm going to need some help. Should we get started? 

[MUSIC PLAYING] 

Photobiomodulation, AKA laser light therapy. Can this treatment modality be used to impact the opioid crisis while maintaining standards of patient care? Full disclosure, my relationship to photobiomodulation didn't get off to a great start. Here I am, a young Midwest veterinarian, and I inherit this $20,000 piece of laser therapy equipment from my clinic's former owner and come to find out it's broken. Not only that, but the manufacturer refused to support it. So it's now useless to me, just taking up valuable space in my practice. But that was then. 

For an updated perspective, let's start to gather some new input from researchers, peers, and other experts. Today, we have the privilege of consulting with Dr. Christopher G. Byers, a practicing, double board-certified internist, and criticalist. Chris will help us answer our questions around best practices for pain recognition and assessment in companion animals and mechanisms of action for photobiomodulation therapy. 

Dr. Ron Riegel is the founder of the American Institute of Medical Laser Applications, primary editor of Laser Therapy in Veterinary Medicine Photobiomodulation, and a longtime expert in the photobiomodulation field. Ron will help us answer real-world questions on the principles of photobiomodulations during a practical demonstration. 

Dr. Logan Donaldson has also agreed to consult with us. He has a residency-trained neurologist and neurosurgeon. Logan will help us understand questions within the current scientific literature. Who better to ask than someone entrenched in the literature for neurology board certification? 

We also have Dr. Andrea Looney. She is board-certified in anesthesiology and analgesia and board-certified in sports medicine and rehabilitation. Andrea will help us answer our questions from a trial, a randomized, blind, placebo-controlled trial investigating the effects of photobiomodulation therapy on canine elbow osteoarthritis. 

Dr. Wendy Baltzer is a double-boarded veterinarian and PhD in veterinary physiology and an author of the study titled, "Preoperative Low-level Laser Therapy in Dogs Undergoing Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy, A Blinded, Prospective, Randomized Clinical Trial."