MAIN DISORDERS BY SYSTEM
33
CARDIORESPIRATORY SYSTEM
27 Interventional techniques
and devices
Minimally invasive surgery or interventional procedures have been developed in recent years to improve recovery time, mortality, and analgesia in complicated surgical procedures and those involving difficult-to-access anatomical areas. Thanks to technological advances, veterinary surgeons can use devices to cure diseases that were previously untreatable. Some of these devices are described below.
Endoscopes Very thin optical devices covered with a rigid or flexible sheath. These are introduced via narrow channels and used to visualise specific structures, which can then be operated on (cut, extracted, sutured, cauterised, etc.).
Endoprosthesis (stent)
Drainage catheters
Tubular dilators that are permanently or temporarily placed in deformed or narrowed ducts and allow the passage of air (tracheal or nasopharyngeal stent), urine (ureteral and urethral stent), or blood.
Made of very soft, non-harmful materials, these allow permanent drainage of fluids from the chest, abdomen, or renal pelvis (subcutaneous ureteral bypass, SUB).
Intravascular devices These are introduced into the blood vessels with radiological guidance and help to plug vascular malformations. Currently two types are used: embolisation coils and Amplatzer devices.
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Balloon catheters These are introduced into narrowed blood vessels, malformed heart valves, or naturally narrow ducts (e.g. urethra, nasopharynx, or oesophagus) and are inflated under high pressure to dilate the narrowed lumen.
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