Willows Veterinary Centre in Solihull now offers keyhole surgery to treat intrahepatic shunts – abnormal connections between veins – inside the livers of dogs.

Instead of conducting major open surgery, Chris Shales, an RCVS and European Specialist in Small Animal Surgery, Andrew Kent, a European Specialist in Internal Medicine, and the cardiology team at Willows are using coil embolization, a minimally invasive technique which they say is far safer and less likely to lead to post-operative complications.

The procedure involves threading tiny coils, via the jugular vein, through the venous system and positioning them in the blood vessel that needs to be closed. The coils encourage the blood to form a clot and so, over time, seal the vein.

Chris said: "This procedure of treating intrahepatic portosystemic shunts is associated with a lower risk of mortality and a lower surgical morbidity rate when comparted to open surgery. The overall outcome of the two approaches is similar in terms of reduction of flow through the shunt vessel.  

"Access is gained via a small incision in the neck to allow the team to operate on the liver via the jugular vein using fluoroscopy to visualise the placement of a stent within the vena cava and embolization coils within the abnormal vessel.

"Intrahepatic shunts can be extremely challenging for the surgical team to access with the result that standard, open surgical treatment of these abnormal vessels can risk life-threatening complications and animals can require a significant time to recover."

For more information about shunt surgery at Willows, contact Chris Shales or Small Animal Internal Medicine Specialist Andrew Kent on 0121 712 7070 or email enquiries@willows.uk.net. 

Photo: Chris Shales, left, with Andrew Kent, centre, and cardiologist Mike Martin.

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