UF veterinarian honored for best abstract at anesthesiology conference

Andre Shih, an assistant professor of anesthesiology in the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, was honored for having the best abstract presentation at the 9th World Congress of Veterinary Anesthesiology.

The Congress was held in September in Brazil. Veterinary anesthesiologists from all over the world submitted oral or written presentations for consideration in the abstract competition.

Shih's abstract showed that a drug called midozolam can alleviate pain caused by damaged or diseased nerves in rats.

"Neuropathic pain is very difficult to treat, with only about 40 percent of patients with the disease being treatable medically, and the best-case scenario being around 50 percent," Shih said. "We have shown that injection of midozolam helps alleviate painful signs, compared to a placebo of saline injection."