JAVMA News-Mississippi State’s specialty center shares advanced equipment with human medical practice

Story and photos by Malinda Larkin

​Let’s start with a geography lesson. Starkville is located in central Mississippi and had a population of 24,360 as of 2012. Mississippi State University, which is partially located in Starkville, had an enrollment of 20,161 in 2013. The closest city with more than 100,000 residents is Jackson, Mississippi, which is 125 miles southwest of Starkville.

Given those figures, it may not seem plausible that the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine could offer high-end diagnostic testing and treatment options for its neurology and oncology patients. And yet, this is what it has: a 64-slice CT scanner, a 3-T MRI scanner, a 4-D ultrasound machine, and a linear accelerator that is so precise its beam can target a tumor within 5 millimeters.  read more...