Surgery and anaesthesiology department
Surgery and anaesthesiology department
In addition to planned surgical procedures, animal patients who need complicated surgeries are often referred to Small Animal Clinic of Estonian University of Life Sciences. At the moment, there are four fully equipped operating rooms in our clinic. Two of them are used for orthorpaedic surgical procedures and the other two – for soft tissue surgeries.
Who are we?
Five surgeons work on our team: Rainer Hõim, Ants Kuks, Diana Leppsoo, Jaana Parek, and Martin Karindi. Anaesthesia is performed by Aleksandr Semjonov and Raidy Mägi. Finally, we must not forget about our wonderful assistants.
What does a surgeon do?
Surgery is one of the most important types of animal clinic services. Experienced surgeons of our clinic are always prepared to perform a planned or emergency surgeries. Routine neutering surgeries of male and female animals, various hernia surgeries, and numerous orthorpaedic surgical procedures, e.g. treatment of bone and joint problems are considered planned procedures. Head surgical procedures, i.e. ear canal removal, opening of the nostrils (e.g. to remove a tumour), shortening of the soft palate in short nosed or brachycephalic breeds, salivary gland removal are considered to be more complicated planned surgeries.
The most complicated and serious conditions requiring emergency surgical intervention are removal of foreign bodies from the intestine and stomach, severe complicated bone fractures, bladder stone removal, caesarean sections, pyometra or surgical removal of infected uterus, surgical management of gastric torsion, etc. One of the most important parts of neurosurgery are spinal surgical procedures on cats and dogs, e.g. surgical treatment of herniated vertebral disc causing spinal cord compression may give the animal a change for fast recovery.
Our clinic performs various thoracic surgeries: we repair diaphragmatic hernias, remove lung tumours and manage cardiovascular conditions. An experienced team of anaesthesiologists and availability of lung ventilation equipment ensure success of most surgeries and fast recovery of our patients. We have successfully treated liver shunts, removed tumours from gall bladder, kidney, and liver.
What does and anaesthesiologist do?
Development of anaesthesiology has provided opportunities for enhancement of surgical services.
Our clinic is one of the few in Estonia offering anaesthesia as a separate type of service. An anaesthesiologist usually remains at the background, but their work is a key to success of complicated surgical procedures. An anaesthesiologist evaluates the condition of the patient, the complexity of the surgical procedure, and based on that, decides on the safest type of anaesthesia. The task of the surgeon is to solve the main problem, while the anaesthesiologist keeps the patient alive and ensures the animal does not experience any pain.
Surgical procedures during which the patient cannot breathe on their own are considered most complex. All thoracic surgeries and most lengthy surgical procedures belong to this category. Moreover, all animals suffering from lung or heart conditions may experience respiratory failure. At the moment, our clinic has the best mechanical lung ventilation equipment in Estonia. The availability of both advanced pulmonary ventilation equipment and experienced team of anaesthesiologists helps patients with respiratory failure both during anaesthesia and in an ICU. The team of anaesthesiologists offers their services to dentistry, intensive care and neurology departments of our clinic.
What happens to your animal in surgery?
From the moment you hand your pet over to the surgeon of the animal clinic, it is never left alone, not for a single minute. First, the team of anaesthesiologists starts their work – they carefully examine the patient, take the necessary blood samples, in certain cases, consult the cardiologist. Then, the patient is administered an injection of anaesthetic and prepared for the procedure. When the patient is fast asleep, the leading figures, surgeons, “step onto the stage”. They decide whether the patient needs any additional diagnostic procedures, such as x-ray examination/ radiology and computer tomography, or it can be moved directly to the operating room. During the surgery, the animal is connected to several monitors that provide the doctors with the opportunity to constantly observe and re-evaluate the patient’s condition and notice even minor complications caused by the surgery itself or anaesthesia. Careful monitoring of anaesthesia significantly lowers the risks.
After the surgery, the patient is handed over to the team of the stationary unit, who, together with the doctors, would monitor the animal to calmly and safely recover from anaesthesia. Patients in critical condition are transferred to the ICU, where they are constantly monitored. Finally, you receive a long expected call from a surgeon, anaesthesiologist, or ICU veterinarian, who would inform you about the condition of your pet.
In general, you may take your pet home, when it has entirely recovered from anaesthesia and its life is no longer in danger.