Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a treatment modality that combines the electroporation of cell membranes with chemotherapy to facilitate the transport of non-permeant molecules into cells. Several canine and feline studies have shown promising results, suggesting that ECT can be a valid adjuvant or alternative treatment option for some tumours. The objective of this paper is to provide a bibliographic review of the principles and applications of ECT in veterinary medicine and to compare to its use in human medicine.

Ketogenic diets (KD) have been used in the treatment of epilepsy in humans for around a century and, more recently, they have been implanted for cancer patients, as well as in the treatment of obesity. This type of diet consists of high-fat levels, an adequate amount of protein and restricted carbohydrates, or high medium-chain triglycerides. Recently, the ketogenic diet has gained attention in veterinary medicine and studies were published evaluating the effects of KD in dogs with epilepsy. The objective of this review was to highlight recent studies about the application of KD in dogs and cats, to describe the neurobiochemical mechanisms through which KD improves epilepsy crisis, and their adverse effects. Studies were identified by a systematic review of literature available on PubMed, Embase, and Scopus. All cohort and case-control studies were included, and all articles were exported to Mendeley® citation manager, and duplicates were automatically removed. Seven articles and three conference abstracts conducted with dogs were included in the present study. There is evidence that the consumption of diets with medium-chain triglycerides increases the concentration of circulating ketone bodies and improves epilepsy signs, although these diets have higher carbohydrate and lower fat content when compared to the classic KD.

Conical coupling locking plates (CCP) have become an interesting alternative in veterinary orthopedics and traumatology. Available data in this regard, however, must be interpreted with caution, and several studies are still required to reach definitive conclusions on the clinical use of these implants. In this context, this review aims to discuss CCP applications and mechanical aspects in small animals and summarize in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo study results.

In veterinary surgery, single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) techniques have been described since 2009, and, in recent decades, many authors have reported the application of SILS in small animals, thus, promoting the wide dissemination of this novel approach among veterinary laparoscopists. The aim of this literature review is to provide a critical evaluation of the scientific reports on SILS in the field of small animal laparoscopic surgery. A comprehensive literature review was performed including from 1 January 2009 to 1 July 2020. The following data were recorded from each study: the design, year of publication, surgical procedure, species, number of animals included, and surgical time. The type of SILS technique and type of control group technique were evaluated. In total, 90 articles were identified through database searches and manual searches. The qualitative analysis showed that most of the articles were retrospective studies, without a control group or case series. A meta-analysis was performed on the eight controlled studies, showing that SILS ovariectomy and gastrointestinal procedures had a comparable surgical time to multiport techniques. The study of the articles available in the veterinary literature did not allow for an adequate meta-analysis of the published results, especially regarding post-operative pain, evaluations of surgical times, and post-operative complications in comparison to multiport techniques. Therefore, veterinary surgeons who want to employ these techniques must consider the real advantages of SILS techniques.