The Vaccine-Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force (VAFSTF) will convene a roundtable discussion at the American Animal Hospital Association headquarters in Denver, Colorado, on December 6, 2004.  A list of questions submitted by veterinarians and cat owners will be posed to roundtable participants, and a written transcript will appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 

VAFSTF has supported studies investigating the epidemiology, etiopathogenesis, treatment, and prevention of injection-site sarcomas, as well as disseminated information to veterinarians and the cat-owning public, since its inception in late 1996. "We know a lot more about this condition now than we did back when VAFSTF was formed," says Dr. James Richards, director of the Cornell Feline Health Center, "so it seemed reasonable to assemble a group of experts to attempt to answer some of the questions veterinarians continue to pose."  Richards polled members of the American Association of Feline Practitioners and a select group of cat owners, asking them to submit questions.  "The same questions kept cropping up over and over again, so I compiled a list of twenty or so that will be asked of the roundtable participants just to get the conversation started.  But I expect many others will be raised and answered during the discussion."

Roundtable participants will include members of VAFSTF:

Dr. Henry Childers, representing the American Veterinary Medical Association
Dr. Thomas Elston, representing the American Association of Feline Practitioners
Dr. Donna Gatewood, representing the United States Department of Agriculture
Dr. Mattie Hendrick, a pathologist at the University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Barbara Kitchell, an oncologist at the Michigan State University
Dr. Dennis Macy, an oncologist at Colorado State University
Dr. Kent McClure, representing the Animal Health Institute
Dr. Wallace Morrison, representing the Veterinary Cancer Society
Dr. James Richards from the Cornell Feline Health Center at Cornell University
Dr. Link Welborn, representing the American Animal Hospital Association
Dr. Robin Starr, VAFSTF chairperson
Lyle Vogel, Director of AVMA's Scientific Activities Division

Additional participants are
Dr. Jane Brunt, Cat Hospital at Towson
Dr. Larry Glickman, Purdue University
Dr. Phil Kass, University of California, Davis
Dr. Margy McEntee, Cornell University
Dr. Larry McGill, ARUP Laboratories associated with the University of Utah
Dr. Ronald Schultz, University of Wisconsin  

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