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Clinical Trials

Clinical Trials at OVC

Veterinary clinical trials at the OVC Health Sciences Centre are research studies involving client-owned animals with the ultimate goal of advancing animal health care. These studies may try to identify the most effective therapies and practices for a given condition or increase our understanding of a disease process.

While some clinical trials are designed specifically to improve veterinary health, translational clinical trials are also designed as an intermediate step to inform the design of human clinical trials. OVC is a hub for translational research in Canada and is well positioned to translate findings from "bench to bedside".

The majority of clinical trials performed at the OVC fall into one of these two main groups:

  1. Observational studies: Samples and/or data are collected from animals with a certain condition to gain more knowledge about that disease process. Samples and/or data can also be collected from healthy animals or certain breeds of animals to be used as normal controls for studies.
  2. Interventional studies: Companion animals may receive a new type of treatment for their condition, a new diagnostic technique, or a novel surgical procedure. The trial may compare a new therapeutic approach to one that is already standard-of-care at the OVC or even compare existing standard-of-care approaches for a new purpose. Samples and data are often collected to aid in assessing the new intervention.

All of the clinical trials performed at the OVC enable clinical researchers to continually improve existing therapeutic approaches and to find more effective diagnostics, techniques, and treatments for both healthy and diseased patients.

For all clinical trials performed at the Ontario Veterinary College, informed consent will be obtained from a patient's owner. The clinical care of a patient will not be compromised if clients opt to not participate in a study.

For information on clinical trials currently recruiting companion animal patients at the Ontario Veterinary College, please click on the links below or contact the Clinical Trials Team at 'ovc.clinicaltrials@uoguelph.ca'.

Clinical Trials with Active Recruitment:

Cardiology

Companion Animal Internal Medicine

  • The effect of laparoscopy on intracranial pressure as measured by optic nerve sheath diameter

Neurology

Oncology (For additional information on oncology trials, please see trials listed by the Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation).

General

Bone

Head and Neck

  • Evaluation of agreement between computed tomography lymphangiography and the combination of methylene blue and indocyanine green for sentinel lymph node mapping in dogs with oral tumours
  • Evaluation of regional lymph node metastasis in canine thyroid carcinoma

Lymphoma & Leukemia

Pancreatic Tumours

  • **STARTING SOON** - Pilot evaluation of near infrared fluorescence imaging for intraoperative identification of canine pancreatic tumours and metastasis (ICG)

Skin & Subcutaneous Tumours

Thoracic

Companion Animal Surgery

  • **STARTING SOON** - Use of indocyanine green fluorescence imaging for perfusion assessment and anastomotic planning in canine small intestinal foreign body surgery
  • **STARTING SOON** - Prospective, long-term evaluation of esophageal function and clinical outcome following surgical treatment of vascular ring anomalies in dogs
  • Prospective evaluation of minimally invasive thoracic surgery for identification of pulmonary bullae in dogs with spontaneous pneumothorax

Closed and Completed Clinical Trials

Companion Animal Internal Medicine

  • Can KIM1 biomarker be used to detect anesthesia induced acute kidney injury in cats?
Lymphoma
  • Minimal residual disease detection in canine lymphoma

More Information:

For further information on current and upcoming clinical trials or to find out if your pet is eligible, please contact:
Vicky Sabine (PhD), Clinical Research Co-ordinator
Work cell #: 226-218-0338
Email address: ovc.clinicaltrials@uoguelph.ca