One of my friends, Jeff Solomon, is one of the cofounders of SEVS - the Society of Endovascular Veterinary Surgery. He and his partner, Chick Weisse, have set up the society to pioneer the science of minimally invasive therapy through educating and training veterinarians, conducting research, and establishing standards of care. Given that Jeff is a human doctor and Chick is a veterinarian, they are basically transfering advanced technology and skills from human medicine to veterinary medicine. How cool is that?
Why would they do this? There are many benefits of non-invasive surgery: reduced scar formation, lower blood loss, and fewer infections, and a reduction in the risk of other complications. Recovery time is also shortened and many procedures can be done on an outpatient basis. All of the above add up to a much more comforable surgical experience for your dog or cat, as well as significant reduction in cost as well. Sounds like a win-win to me.
So what do Jeff, Chick and the other members of SEVS actually do? They educate vets on non-invasive surgery techniques and give donated time and materials to specific cases that could use their expertise.
Here are a couple of interesting case studies: one is the first ever minimally invasive treatment of a liver shunt in a cat; the other is the treatment of a collapsing trachea in a Yorkshire Terrier, a condition that many miniature and toy dogs are prone to getting.In addition, they have procedures for killing tumors and fixing uncontrollable nosebleeds, or "intractable epistaxis", which sounds minor but can be a life threatening condition.
There are also some really lovely testimonials for this procedure.
If you are interested in learning more about SEVS and what they are doing for cats and dogs, check out www.SEVS.org.
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