PAVE (Program for the Assessment of Veterinary Education Equivalence) and its QSE · USA · American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB)
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersThe lesions of specific infectious diseases and poisonings, how to perform a post-mortem and dispatch samples, and the basics of clinical pathology.
In the exams: ICAR AICE-JRF core group 06; ICAR AIEEA-PG 13 (Pathology); ECFVG / NEB CPE necropsy section
How our questions for PAVE and its QSE spread across the units of Special Pathology, Necropsy & Clinical Pathology. Difficulty: 2 easy, 24 medium, 3 hard.
| Clinical haematology | 4 | |
| Cytology | 4 | |
| Urinalysis | 4 | |
| Post-mortem technique | 3 | |
| Collection and dispatch of samples | 3 | |
| Pathology of bacterial diseases | 2 | |
| Pathology of viral diseases | 2 | |
| Pathology of toxicoses | 2 | |
| Diseases of laboratory animals | 2 | |
| Diseases of wild animals | 2 | |
| Histopathology | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A 25 g piece of liver is to be fixed. Using the recommended fixative-to-tissue ratio, what minimum volume of 10% neutral buffered formalin is needed?
B. About 250 mL
The recommended ratio is about 10 volumes of fixative to 1 volume of tissue; 25 g of tissue is roughly 25 mL, so 25 × 10 = 250 mL. About 2.5 litres uses a 100:1 ratio and about 50 mL a 2:1 ratio. Equal volumes (25 mL) are exhausted quickly and the centre autolyses.
Further reading: WOAH Terrestrial Manual; King JM et al., The Necropsy Book
A lamb found dead after being moved onto lush pasture has excess pericardial fluid with a fibrin clot, glucose in the urine and soft kidneys. Which confirms the likely diagnosis?
A. Detection of epsilon toxin in intestinal contents
This is enterotoxaemia caused by C. perfringens type D. The organism is a normal gut inhabitant and invades tissues after death, so its culture proves little; toxin detection (and glucosuria, brain lesions) is the confirmation. There is no time for paired sera in a peracute death.
Further reading: Zachary JF, Pathologic Basis of Veterinary Disease, 7th ed.; Jubb, Kennedy and Palmer's Pathology of Domestic Animals, 6th ed.
A ewe fed a concentrate for cattle becomes weak and jaundiced with red-brown urine. At necropsy the liver is swollen and yellow-orange and the kidneys are dark blue-black. The most likely diagnosis is:
D. Chronic copper poisoning
Sheep accumulate copper from cattle feeds; a haemolytic crisis produces jaundice, haemoglobinuria and 'gunmetal' kidneys. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids cause chronic liver damage but not the acute haemolysis.
Further reading: Jubb, Kennedy and Palmer's Pathology of Domestic Animals, 6th ed.
A dog has PCV 36% and RBC count 6.0 × 10^12/L. What is the mean cell volume (MCV)?
D. 60 fL
MCV = PCV (%) × 10 ÷ RBC (×10^12/L) = 36 × 10 ÷ 6.0 = 60 fL. Omitting the × 10 gives 6 fL; inverting the ratio (RBC × 100 ÷ PCV = 6.0 × 100 ÷ 36) gives 16.7; 600 multiplies by 100 instead of 10.
Further reading: Weiss DJ, Wardrop KJ, Schalm's Veterinary Hematology, 6th ed.
A dog has a reticulocyte count of 6% and a PCV of 15%. Taking the normal canine PCV as 45%, what is the corrected reticulocyte percentage?
A. 2%
Corrected % = observed % × patient PCV ÷ normal PCV = 6 × 15 ÷ 45 = 2%. Multiplying by 45/15 (18%) inverts the ratio; 0.33% is 15/45 without multiplying by 6; the correction lowers the figure because each reticulocyte is a larger share of a smaller red cell mass.
Further reading: Weiss DJ, Wardrop KJ, Schalm's Veterinary Hematology, 6th ed.
Cells that exfoliate poorly, occur singly and are spindle-shaped with tails of cytoplasm are most likely:
A. Mesenchymal
Mesenchymal cells are embedded in matrix, so they exfoliate poorly and appear as single spindle cells. Epithelial cells form cohesive clusters.
Further reading: Raskin RE, Meyer DJ, Canine and Feline Cytology, 3rd ed.
Urine specific gravity is best measured in animals with:
C. A refractometer
The dipstick pad was designed for human urine and is unreliable in animals. The refractometer is the standard in-clinic method.
Further reading: Latimer KS, Duncan and Prasse's Veterinary Laboratory Medicine, 5th ed.; IRIS guidelines
A dehydrated dog has increased serum urea and creatinine, and a urine specific gravity of 1.010. The most likely interpretation is:
B. Renal azotaemia, since the kidneys fail to concentrate urine despite dehydration
A dehydrated dog with healthy kidneys should produce urine above about 1.030. An isosthenuric result (about 1.008 to 1.012) with azotaemia points to renal failure, unless something else impairs concentration (diuretics, fluids, hypoadrenocorticism).
Further reading: Latimer KS, Duncan and Prasse's Veterinary Laboratory Medicine, 5th ed.; IRIS guidelines
Ammonium biurate crystals in the urine of a young small-breed dog with poor growth and neurological signs after meals suggest:
A. A portosystemic shunt
Liver bypass lowers conversion of ammonia and uric acid, producing ammonium biurate crystals and hepatic encephalopathy. Dalmatians form urate crystals through a breed defect without a shunt.
Further reading: Latimer KS, Duncan and Prasse's Veterinary Laboratory Medicine, 5th ed.; IRIS guidelines
Ten here, 29 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to PAVE and its QSE in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.
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