Stannard's Illustrated Equine Dermatology Notes - an introduction.

Abstract

The Illustrated Equine Dermatology Notes of Dr Tony Stannard were compiled during the summer of 1998 and reworked in 1999 by Dr Claudia von Tscharner, Dr Julie Yager and Dr Gail Kunkle, professional colleagues and friends of Tony’s. The objective of our work was to publish a small portion of Dr Stannard’s knowledge of equine dermatology, something for which he was known worldwide, but much of which had remained captured only in notes and in occasional book chapters. Upon his untimely death in 1997, his histopathology slide collection from his outside dermatohistopathology service were given to us by Tony’s wife, Jan, with a request to use them to disseminate information to others. Dr A. A. Stannard was both a pathologist (PhD) and a dermatologist (Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Dermatology (ACVD)). He was one of the foremost equine dermatologists in the world. He brought to the area a dual perspective, seeing both gross clinical lesions and microscopic examination of representative tissues. His comments in his histopathology reports were unique because he was not only the clinician on the case but often the pathologist of record. He was particularly interested in the disease processes that led to the clinical signs, much more than in the clinical treatment, which is why we refer the reader to other sources for more complete details regarding therapy.1 Dr Tony Stannard was also a highly respected leader and long-term Department Chairman at the University of California at Davis, College of Veterinary Medicine. These notes are not complete in that all equine dermatologic conditions are not covered herein. They are a compilation of his most updated notes which were found on his home computer in preparation for an Equine Dermatology Course he was to give in Vienna later in the year that he died. Additional sources of reference materials are listed below. The histopathologic photographs were taken from representative examples of the selected diseases from Tony’s private dermatohistopathology service. Both veterinary pathologists, Claudia von Tscharner and Julie Yager, looked at hundreds of glass slides and photographed representative areas from his descriptions in the pathology reports. Notes and comments from his histopathology reports were included in the enclosed notes. Stannard’s Illustrated Equine Dermatology Notes were written by Dr Stannard, and changed here only when the editors felt it necessary to improve clarity. Editors’ comments were added when new information was available to update the section, or when there was a differing of opinion(s) by any of the three editors. Support for this publication has been provided by: Merial, DVM Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Animal Health, The American Academy of Veterinary Dermatology and the American College of Veterinary Dermatology. The editors would like to thank Jan Stannard, for trusting us to use Tony’s glass slide collection in a way of value to others. Thanks are extended to others who shared copies of clinical slides of Dr Stannard’s cases: Stephen White, John Baird, Wayne Rosenkrantz and especially Tony’s friend and colleague, Peter Ihrke. The editors especially would like to thank Helen Power for her successful efforts to obtain financial support for the production of this issue. Thanks to Dr Gary Carlson, Department Chairman at UC Davis, for believing we could do it. Thanks to Mike Wilson and Steve Yager for enduring us as we completed this. With the death of Tony Stannard went much knowledge and probably the best understanding of equine cutaneous pathology. We hope that these notes will be useful to those interested in clinical equine dermatology and equine dermatohistopathology, and that this information will open doors for others in the future. We can only hope that Tony Stannard would approve. Updated notes for Vienna European Society of Veterinary Dermatology (ESVD) Workshop on Equine Dermatology, found in Dr Stannard’s study at home on his personal computer. Stannard, A.A. Equine Dermatology ESVD Aalborg, Denmark, Notes 1994. Stannard, A.A. & Pascoe, R.R.R. ESVD Workshop on Equine Dermatology Proceedings, Newmarket, England, July 22–27 1994. Stannard, A.A. North American Veterinary Conference, Personal notes from attendee at lectures,January 1997. Stannard, A.A. ESVD Second Workshop on Dermatopathology Proceedings, St. Albans, England, April 1991. Stannard, A.A. Proceedings Third World Congress Veterinary Dermatology, Edinburgh, Scotland, September 1996.