Midlands hospital leads way with new heart disease procedure

An innovative new procedure for the treatment of canine heart disease is being pioneered at a West Midlands small animal hospital.

Vets at the Willows Veterinary Centre and Referral Service in Solihull have conducted their first transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair (TEER) operation.

The site is thought to be the only one in the UK, and one of only a handful globally, to offer the procedure for the treatment of the most common form of canine heart disease, myxomatous mitral valve disease.

‘Incredibly excited’

Willows’ head of cardiology Simon Swift said his team was “incredibly excited” to carry out the procedure for advanced cases of the disease, which can ultimately lead to the development of fluid in the lungs.

Dr Swift said: “TEER is already considered an alternative to surgical repair in human patients and there have been some very promising early clinical results in dogs.

“It’s a procedure that delivers meaningful results and an improved quality of life, and because it’s a minimally invasive process, patients are typically discharged from hospital within two days.”

Recovering well

The first TEER patient, a 10-year-old Havanese named Chester, is said to be recovering well following the operation, which involved two anaesthetists, two soft tissue surgeons, three cardiologists and three cardiology nurses.

The hospital’s cardiologists also underwent extensive training in the US and China before conducting the procedure.

Dr Swift said: “The procedure is performed under general anaesthesia through a small incision in the chest wall.

“Access within the beating heart is achieved by a needle puncture at the apex of the heart, which is highlighted by continuous x-ray images and an ultrasound of the heart via a probe placed in the oesophagus.

“This allows correct positioning of a V-clamp across the mitral valve to reduce the amount of leakage.”