Page 7 - Clinical Connections - Summer 2019

CARDIOLOGY SERVICE
The cardiology team is made up of senior clinicians David Connolly, Virginia Luis Fuentes (Professors of Veterinary Cardiology), Anne Kurosawa and Staff Clinician Xavier Navarro Cubas (who are all board-certified American or European specialists in Cardiology), residents Joonbum Seo and Inma Cerrada Serra, Iñaki Prado Checa and a dedicated cardiology veterinary nurse. Tobias Wagner of Southern Counties Referrals, who did his specialist cardiology training at the RVC, worked with the RVC team on Kayla’s case.
Virginia Luis Fuentes, who heads
up the Cardiology Service, is a past Chair of the Cardiology Specialty of the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. She is a current member of two ACVIM Consensus statement panels (canine mitral valve disease, and feline cardiomyopathies).
The advantage of referring to our Cardiology Service is that the team
can both diagnose and treat. It is part
of the RVC Queen Mother Hospital’s heart surgery team means that there is probably no referral centre in the world that can offer treatment for a wider range of cardiac diseases than the RVC. The team also works closely with theatre staff, radiographers and the Anaesthesia and Analgesia Service on interventional cases, with the Emergency and Critical Care team on acute cardiac cases, with the Neurology Service on collapsing cases, and with the Internal Medicine Service on cases with comorbidities. The Diagnostic Imaging Service provide imaging support for all RVC’s clinical services.
Professors Virginia Luis Fuentes and David Connolly in surgical theatre
CASE STUDY: KAYLA (CHIHUAHUA CROSS)
Kayla’s heart murmur was noted at her first vaccination and her vets suspected the presence of a patent ductus arteriosus. A referral to
the RVC Small Animal Referrals Hospital was arranged to assess
Kayla as a possible candidate for surgical closure or minimally invasive occlusion of her PDA. Following discussion, the owners expressed their preference for minimally invasive occlusion. The ODA was accessed by catheterising the right heart and the main pulmonary artery using fluoroscopic guidance. Her PDA was successfully occluded using the vascular duct occluder, with no residual flow.
For small animal referrals, please call
01707 666399
Email:
qmhreception@rvc.ac.uk
Fig 3: An 8mm vascular plug occluder in the PDA
ardiology
CASE ADVICE
The RVC Cardiology Service is always happy to offer case advice to vets. If referred, our aim is to make an initial assessment,
and liaise with the referring vet to help them manage the case over the long term, with the option for us to re-examine the case at any time if the referring vet requests this.
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