The key to getting a good outcome for cancer patients is to detect cancer at an early stage, but owing to the stoic nature of our canine and feline friends, disease has historically been picked up when quite advanced. Generations of vets have strived to manage owner’s expectations through phrases for example “there’s no blood test to tell you if your dog has a tumour.” Now paradigms are shifting, and that statement is simply untrue! A number of minimally invasive techniques to diagnose cancer at an early stage have made their way into the veterinary world. With an earlier diagnosis of cancer there will inevitably be more hope for a better long-term outcome, but that’s not all; new treatments are also becoming available. With the increasing availability of genomic profiling, targeted medical therapies, rather than chemotherapy, are becoming available, and more immunotherapies are being used, for example immune checkpoint inhibition. New techniques for example interventional therapies and advances in radiation therapy have also made many “untreatable” diseases highly treatable.

This session will highlight the best of old and new, placing emphasis on what can practically be achieved for the average case seen in practice. In session one we will review the tried and tested tools to diagnose cancer followed by reviewing the exciting new developments in the way of liquid biopsies and genomic profiling.