My smallest, littlest patient to date. This is her story. Evie was just 3 weeks old when she presented to us at VSS with a patent ductus arteriosis.
A patent ductus arteriosus results when the communication between the aorta and pulmonary artery fails to close shortly after birth. This results in overloading of the left heart and eventual left-sided congestive heart failure.
Often a PDA is diagnosed by cardiac auscultation during puppy-hood/subsequent echocardiogram and generally they can be managed until they are big enough for coil placement into the shunting vessel (3.5kg). Evie however was already in congestive heart failure at 21 days old. She weighed 690 grams.
The owners wanted to give Evie a chance despite the risks as there was no chance of survival without surgery.
Surgery was performed by Dr Wendy Archipow and myself and involved a left-sided fourth intercostal thoracotomy to locate the shunt between the pulmonary artery and aorta and it was ligated with 2-0 Silk.
The surgery was successful and Evie was returned to Mum the next day to continue feeding (she was formula fed for the hospital stay). Follow-up echo by Dr Brad Gavaghan, our cardiologist, revealed the PDA was completely ligated with no residual flow and that Evie should have a normal life-span. She was no longer in congestive heart failure. I received several updates and photos from the owner over the following year and she grew up beautifully.
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