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EXCITING NEWS: 

INTRODUCTION OF LAPAROSCOPIC SURGERY AT OUR PRACTICE

LAPAROSCOPIC OVARIECTOMY

BECAUSE MINIMALLY INVASIVE "KEYHOLE" SURGERY IS THE BEST OPTION FOR YOUR PET.

Almost all surgical procedures, including routine spays, will induce pain to our patients. Modern pain relief medication administered before, during and after surgery have helped us to significantly reduce the way our patients experience this pain.

However newer laparoscopic "true" keyhole surgery techniques greatly reduce the amount of tissue damage and bruising created by the surgery in the first place, hence these techniques are really minimally invasive and are the preferred option whenever possible. This is now widely accepted in human medicine but only starting to be used routinely in veterinary patients.
One reason is possibly the slightly higher price for laparascopic surgery due to the higher cost of the modern equipment used in these procedures. We believe that the surgical advantages are certainly worth the small extra cost.

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WHY LAPAROSCOPY?

Small incision size: minimises tissue trauma and therefore pain and small holes heal faster.

Tissue is removed without tearing: reduces pain even more.

Better visualization of the whole surgical procedure due to the magnification of the laparoscopic lens-camera system and clear image on large screen at convenient eye-level of the surgeon; less risk of complications. 

YOUR PET IS BACK TO NORMAL MUCH MORE QUICKLY AND THE EXPERIENCE SHOULD BE MUCH LESS PAINFUL!!!

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OVARIECTOMY VERSUS OVARIOHYSTERECTOMY
The term ovariohysterectomy means to surgically remove the ovaries and the uterus.
The term overiectomy means to only surgically remove the ovaries.

Traditionally in the UK most vets spay a female dog by performing an open ovario-hysterectomy. This is usually done by creating a 2-3 inch [5-7cm] incision in the mid-abdomen.

Each ovarian ligament is torn from it's attachment, the blood vessels are clamped and then ligated with sutures before being cut. Each uterine horn is dissected free towards the cervix and then both ovaries and uterine horns are lifted outside the abdominal cavity, the cervix is clamped and ligated and then cut loose so that the uterus and both ovaries can be removed.

Finally the incision is closed with 3 layers of sutures.
Particularly the tearing of the ovarian ligaments causes bruising to the abdominal wall and is an important source of post-operative pain in a traditional spay surgery.

The laparoscopic option allows us to remove these organs with much less trauma and therefore minimal pain sensation. The procedure is done through 2 or 3 small holes through the abdomen. Each hole is about 5-10mm in diameter depending on the size of the patient. We then make controlled cuts inside the abdomen to remove the tissues rather then having to tear the tissues to be able to lift the ovaries and uterus outside the body, thus vastly reducing pain from bruising that occurs with the traditional surgery method. Each little hole requires just 2 small sutures to close after a final inspection with the camera deep in the abdomen to check for any residual bleeding.

Traditionally the uterus was removed during a spay as it was assumed that a number of dogs would develop disease of the uterus in later live if it was not removed.
However recent research in the USA and The Netherlands [University of Utrecht] has shown that uterine disease will only occur as a direct result of the hormonal stimulation originating in the ovaries of unneutered female dogs during the dogs seasons.

Therefore it makes logical sense to only perform ovariectomies rather then ovary-hysterectomies providing there is no disease process in the uterus yet. This has been confirmed by long term follow-up studies on large numbers of dogs in the USA and Utrecht.

Another potential benefit is that it is likely that the incidence of urinary incontinence in later live is likely to be lower after laparoscopic ovariectomies compared with open ovary-hysterectomies, although long term follow-up studies regarding this issue have not been published yet. 

Again as less tissue needs to be removed the surgical recovery is much faster.
THIS IS WHY WE ADVOCATE LAPAROSCOPIC OVERIECTOMY OVER OPEN OVARIO-HYSTERECTOMIES.

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PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DISCUSS THIS OPTION WITH YOUR VET AT YOUR NEXT VISIT OR EVEN OVER THE PHONE.

WE WILL ENDEAVOUR TO ANSWER ALL YOUR QUESTIONS.
A whole range of other surgeries performed routinely in small animal patients can benefit greatly from a laparoscopic approach.
Possible surgeries are:
  • LIVER BIOPSY
  • PANCREATIC BIOPSY
  • KIDNEY BIOPSY
  • BOWEL BIOPSY
  • PREVENTIVE GASTROPEXY IN DOGS PRONE TO GASTRIC TORSION
  • DIAGNOSTIC EXPLORATION OF THE ABDOMEN
  • DIAGNOSTIC EXPLORATION OF THE CHEST
  • CRYPTORCHOID SURGERY IN MALE DOGS
And many more.

MOST RECENT NEWS (July 2011): 

An article about our Laparoscopy surgery has recently been published in the Wigan Evening Post  and was given the heading "vet centre pioneers keyhole surgery"