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Iowa State Veterinary Hospital Case Study

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While there are many factors that will affect what treatment option is the best, one of the main ones is the cost. The cost of repeated maintenance visits to see a specialized ophthalmologist is a lot higher than seeing a general practice veterinarian. For instance an exam at a general practice vet for routine vaccinations varies from $25.00-$45.00 depending on the location of the clinic. An initial exam at Iowa State Veterinary Hospital with the ophthalmology department is around $185.00. If you choose to medically treat the glaucoma, rechecks at ISU are needed every 3 months to make sure the pressure is not increasing and that is about $100.00 per recheck. While topical therapy is a good starter option and can be maintained for an uncertain amount of time depending on how the canine’s eyes react to the medications, it is also very costly. Each bottle of medication ranges from $25.00-$45.00 and they last about a month. Most canines with glaucoma have a wide variety of medications used simultaneously such as Dorzolamide, Timolol, and Latanoprost that will require refills monthly depending on the dosage the veterinarian has prescribed. Over time these medications along with the rechecks will add up and become very costly. Costs of surgical procedures …show more content…

When comparing the chemical ablation, TSCP, evisceration and the drainage shunts, all are considered good treatment options for glaucoma because they can maintain a low intraocular pressure long term. The chemical ablation and TSCP worked well for some patients, but some needed a second treatment for it to be successful. While the drainage shunt shows promise, data suggests that it is not as good as the other treatments due to the high risk of fibrin obstructing the shunt. That makes it a good short term glaucoma treatment, but it would eventually need to be removed and a second procedure would need to follow

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