For 26 years, hands-on swine necropsy training at the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has taught vital sample gathering techniques and aligned veterinary expertise with industry needs.
In a matter of seconds, veterinary pathologist Stephanie Rossow’s knife slices through the skin of a deceased pig laid out on an examination table in the necropsy lab of the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
Each cut exposes more of the animal’s flesh and brings her closer to tissues and organs that serve a vital role in determining its cause of death and diagnosing any potential disease that played a part.
After a few more cuts, she’s reached the interior of the neck and begins freeing a couple of small organs from the surrounding tissue.
“One thing you want to check is the lymph nodes—you can see these ones are swollen,” she notes, holding them up for a better look before depositing them on a tray.
Gathered around Rossow are a dozen swine health and production professionals who are attending her workshop on pig necropsy instruction. For 26 years, the workshop has been teaching swine veterinarians and producers valuable techniques for gathering tissue, organ, and other samples from a dead pig that make them optimal for diagnostic testing.
“It gives veterinarians and producers an opportunity to learn new skills that will help them keep pigs healthy, learn about new findings and disease or tests that the lab is working on, and see why the samples they collect are important for a successful outcome and diagnosis,” Rossow says of the workshop. “It also gives the lab an opportunity to connect with our clients, show them that we appreciate their trust in us, and that we are sincerely interested in helping them.
Necropsy is one of several services the VDL employs as part of its diagnostic offerings. The necropsy section works with the other laboratory sections at the VDL in cases where additional testing is needed, helping owners and veterinarians determine underlying causes and contributing factors to animal illness and death.
Sometimes, these post-mortem examinations are completed by veterinarians onsite at production farms, but the swine necropsy workshop provides guidance on how producers also can best approach gathering samples for diagnostic purposes. Time is of the essence in collecting these samples—the fresher the sample, the more it can tell pathologists.
“Pigs that are sick or dying represent an opportunity to establish a diagnosis in a timely manner and provide an appropriate course of treatment and/or prevention,” Rossow says. “If producers can collect the appropriate samples and submit them to a lab when pigs are sick and in an optimal stage of a disease for diagnosis, they don’t need to wait for a veterinarian to come to the farm and collect samples.”
As Rossow reaches key samples in the necropsy demonstration, she covers the significance each holds and explains how to package each properly for testing. A story unfolds as she continues excising tissue from the day’s demonstration subject. Before making her first cut, she checked the pig for outward signs of illness and noted that its palor seemed pale. As the necropsy progressed, Rossow discovered an ulcer in the pig’s stomach and a massive blood clot in its gastrointestinal tract.
Once Rossow’s demonstration was complete, attendees migrated to other pig bodies laid on tables to practice what they’d learned. Rossow, fellow veterinary pathologist Matt Sturos, and Sam Holst, ’14 DVM, and Seth Melson, ’23 DVM, veterinarians from Swine Vet Center, visited the tables offering advice and guidance.
The workshop typically coincides with the annual Swine Producers Symposium hosted by Swine Vet Center in St. Peters, Minn.
This article was originally published in Profiles, article and photos by Brandi Rupart.