Jip, Jip hooray: surgeons solve vascular ring anomaly

A cocker spaniel has had intricate surgery after being diagnosed with an unusual birth defect that meant it could not eat solid food and was constantly vomiting.

The team at Wear Referrals in County Durham treated 15-week-old pup Jip (pictured above), who was referred with the suspected and uncommon condition vascular ring anomaly.

Prior to that, Jip’s owners were having to puree all his food because he could not keep solids down. Jip lost weight and had to be fed up to eight times a day to keep going.

Referral

Jess Bacon and Jon Hall at Wear took on the case. Dr Bacon said: “We confirmed the problem was a vascular ring anomaly using a real-time x-ray fluoroscopy, which showed Jip’s aorta was on the wrong side of his chest.

“In a normal dog it is positioned on the left, but Jip’s was on the right, and this had caused a ligament to pass around his oesophagus and constrict it.”

Surgery to cut the ligament and ease the pressure on the oesophagus was carried out, finally allowing the free flow of food from mouth to stomach.

Delicate surgery

Prof Hall said: “It is a delicate surgery to perform on a small puppy with the heart and lungs moving around.

“We made an approach on the left side of the chest between the fourth and fifth ribs, ventilating the dog so that he could breathe under the anaesthetic and then moving the lungs to the side to approach the base of the heart. Without our specialist anaesthesia team and experienced nurses, these kind of surgeries just wouldn’t be possible.

“The vagus nerve was moved to the side, and the ligament identified between the aorta and the left pulmonary artery. We tied it and cut it, releasing the constriction on the oesophagus, and then passed a tube along to make sure it was all freed.

“Everything went well. Jip recovered quickly and had stopped regurgitating within hours of the surgery, so it was a very satisfying outcome.”