Page 7 - Clinical Connections - Spring 2022

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Page 7 - Clinical Connections - Spring 2022
P. 7

Service Spotlight
        ORTHOPAEDICS SERVICE GOES FROM
        STRENGTH TO STRENGTH



             he Orthopaedic Service at the Queen   when metal implants are scanned.   Luckily his pelvis has been successfully
             Mother Hospital for Animals is one of                              reconstructed and he still has a few of his
        T the largest teams in Europe, with six                                 nine lives left!
        surgeons (four European Diploma holders),                                Thursday: We had one of the dogs
        including  Head  of  Service  Professor                                 coming  to  see  us  for  Stem  Cell  Therapy.
        Richard Meeson, Senior Orthopaedic                                      Bart has severe elbow osteoarthritis and
        Surgeon Dr Matthew Pead, and surgeons                                   is no longer responding well to medication.
        Drs  Anna  Frykfors,  Rhiannon  Strickland,                             He  has  had  five  million  of  his  own  stem
        Carlos Sanchez and newly joined surgeon                                 cells cultured from his fat on our onsite
        Dr  Rebekah  Knight. They  work  with  three                            VMD  regulated  laboratory,  and  after
        Specialist Orthopaedic Service RVNs,                                    walking on our pressure mat to get an
        Kate Fitton, Abagail Blake and Emily Few.                               objective assessment of his lameness,
        Additionally, there are six surgical residents                          he had them injected into his elbow joint
        working  with  the  Orthopaedic  Team,  and   Eric's CT scans           for management of his osteoarthritis. We
        PhD student Gareth Jones MRCVS,  who                                    continue to monitor his and other dogs’
        is analysing bone structure of dogs with   Tuesday:  A  Total Hip Replacement for   progress with the pressure mat and validated
        osteoarthritis,  to  identify  early  imaging   Darcy, the nearly two-years-old Bernese   quality of life questionnaires, to improve our
        markers of disease using cutting-edge   mountain  dog  who  had  been  suffering   understanding of this novel therapy.
        imaging techniques.                 with  hip  dysplasia  for  some  time  despite
                                            intensive  hydrotherapy and medication.
                                            Before surgery she  was  in  such  pain  that
                                            she wouldn’t put her foot down properly and
                                            would stand with her hock over-extended.
                                            Post-surgery, she was weight-bearing
                                            normally and no longer in pain.








         Members of the Orthopaedic Service
                                             Bernese mountain dog Darcy
          In  any  week,  the  Orthopaedic  Service
        has two clinical teams working, usually   Wednesday:  Many  of  the  cats  we  see
        consisting of a specialist senior surgeon, a   come through Emergency and Critical Care   Bart on the pressure mat
        surgical resident and an orthopaedic nurse,   after  road  traffic  accidents  and  10-year-
        with a rotating intern supporting both teams.   old  domestic  short-hair  cat  Alfie  was  no   Friday: The team dealt with an unusual
        Between the more routine cruciate, patella   exception. He had fractured his hip joint   case of an orbital fracture. These can usually
        and elbow surgeries, these were some of   (acetabular fracture), and both his ilial   be managed conservatively but, in this
        the highlights last week:           wings, not to mention damage to his bladder.   instance, it was compressing his eye and
          Monday:  Little  Eric,  a  five-year-old                              had  to  be  repaired.  Careful  planning  and
        whippet, was having a lovely time in the                                surgery allowed reconstruction of Roland’s
        woods until a suspected altercation with a                              face with a 1.5mm miniature locking plate.
        wild boar left him unable to walk. Initially, it was
        presumed he had a shoulder joint luxation,
        however, this turned out to be a comminuted
        fracture  of the shoulder  joint glenoid
        surface. After dealing with a life-threatening
        pneumothorax, CT scans allowed accurate
        assessment of his comminuted shoulder                                    Roland, who came in with an orbital fracture
        joint. The only option to save his joint was
        to accurately reconstruct and repair it. His                             And rest….until next week…
        surgery was complicated, but the state-of-
        the-art 320-slice CT scanner was able to                                      For small animal referrals, please call:
        confirm accurate repair of the joint surface                                 01707 666399
        and remove the artefacts typically seen   Alfie's reconstructed pelvis        Email:
                                                                                     qmhreception@rvc.ac.uk

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