In a milestone for veterinary medicine in the Indian subcontinent, a dog underwent successful minimally invasive heart surgery, marking the first such procedure performed by private practitioners in the region.
The patient, a seven-year-old beagle named Juliet, had been battling Mitral valve disease for two years, revealed Dr. Bhanu Dev Sharma, an interventional cardiologist for small animals at Max PetZ Hospital in East of Kailash.
Mitral valve disease, characterized by degenerative changes in mitral valve leaflets leading to blood backflow within the heart’s left upper chamber, can result in congestive heart failure as it progresses.
The surgical team performed a Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair (TEER) procedure using a valve clamp on May 30. Dr. Sharma explained that TEER is a hybrid surgery, combining microsurgery and interventional procedures, with the advantage of being minimally invasive and performed on a beating heart, unlike traditional open-heart surgery.
Juliet’s owners had been administering heart medications for a year before opting for the TEER procedure, which they learned about during a visit to the U.S. where it was pioneered at Colorado State University.
Mitral valve disease is prevalent in dogs worldwide, accounting for 80% of all heart diseases, Dr. Sharma noted. While medicinal treatment offers symptomatic relief, TEER provides a potentially curative option, he added.
As reported by The Hindu, Dr. Sharma’s team, the first from Asia and second worldwide among private practitioners to successfully perform TEER, underwent training in Shanghai last year. The procedure, akin to the human MitraClip, offers new hope for dogs afflicted with this common heart ailment.