Observing Procedures at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital
The BIE cohort had the opportunity to visit the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Training Hospital (VMTH) and observe the Small Animal Clinic Soft Tissue Surgery Service. The Small Animal Clinic provides advanced medical, surgical, and diagnostic services for small pets, exotics and birds including cats and dogs, reptiles, rabbits, and more. The Small Animal Soft Tissue Service provides cardiothoracic, gastrointestinal, respiratory, urogenital, reconstructive surgery, and interventional radiology procedures.
During the cohort’s visit, due to limited space, we were split into smaller groups to observe the surgeries. In total, the cohort observed five surgeries: an amputation, two eye surgeries, a spinal decompression, and a cystotomy. After the BIE team observed these surgeries, many needs were identified that would improve patient care. A few examples are provided below.
While shadowing the amputation procedure, the surgeons explained that cats tend to get aggressive tumors in response to vaccine injections so leg amputations are relatively common. After the amputation of a cancerous limb, physicians need to be certain that the tumor boundary is far enough away from the site of the cut to ensure the safety of the animal. The current dyes used to mark the tissue boundary are difficult to use. Thus, there is a need for a method that would ensure amputation boundaries are clearly and accurately marked before surgery.
One of the eye surgeries that was performed during our visit was an entropion surgery where an eyelid that is rolled inward toward the eye, due to weakened eyelid muscles, is surgically corrected. Dogs have a third eyelid, but since veterinarians generally use pediatric surgery tools, there is no tool available for them to hold all three eyelids of their patient out of the way during surgery. The surgeons discussed this problem with the team so that the need for ‘a device that moves the third eyelid out of the way of the surgical site’ was identified. Furthermore, the team learned that this entropion surgery is normally followed by a second corrective surgery because of the risk of over-correcting the entropion during the first surgery. So there is a need that the first entropion surgery removes the correct amount of tissue.
Overall, the BIE team enjoyed learning about such a wide range of surgeries and witnessing them first-hand.
BIE Cohort: Jessica Hsueh, Katie, Priya Bhattacharjee, SARA SAMPSON,Matt, Karthik Prasad, Annika Carlson, and Michael Manguinao.
Special thanks to: Berkeley Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis Veterinary Medical Training Hospital.
