STILLWATER, Okla.—Dr. Letrisa Miller, class of 1998, was recently awarded top honors for a research poster she presented at the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) Fall Conference in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Miller is the president and CEO of The Cat Clinic of Norman, Okla.

Dr. Miller’s poster, "Treatment of Chronic Purulent Nasal Discharge with Amikacin and Tris-EDTA," presents a novel technique for treating severe, chronic sinus infections in cats.

"Chronic sinus infection in cats can be incredibly frustrating," says Dr. Miller. "Both for the practitioner, who has few effective treatment options available, and for the client, who often has to make an agonizing decision between having their cat put down or living with continuous snotty discharge and sneezing, frequent vet visits, and lots of frustration at the seeming lack of progress."

The technique, developed by Dr. Miller, involves removing part of the bony surface above a cat’s sinus passage and inserting small tubes in the opening so that medical staff or even the cat’s owner can flush the sinuses on a regular basis with a pH buffer (tris), a calcium chelator (EDTA) and an antibiotic (amikacin). To date, The Cat Clinic has treated six cats with the technique; five of the six have had successful outcomes (the sixth cat died of an unrelated cancer before treatment could be completed).

Presenting a poster on the protocol to an international meeting of feline veterinarians allowed Dr. Miller to introduce her novel technique to the group most likely to try it for themselves.

"Maybe one day this technique will be commonly used and will bring relief to suffering cats (and their owners and veterinarians) across the world," concludes Dr. Miller.

The prize for best poster was an i-Stat blood machine donated by Heska, Corp. The i-Stat, a $4,000 hand held device, can perform a variety of blood tests, including blood gases, serum chemistry and coagulation profiles, typically providing results in about two minutes.

###