{"id":1340,"date":"2018-08-19T04:48:31","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T04:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aercmn.com\/?p=1340"},"modified":"2018-08-19T04:48:31","modified_gmt":"2018-08-19T04:48:31","slug":"ricos-story-the-first-balloon-valvuloplasty-at-aerc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aercmn.com\/blog\/ricos-story-the-first-balloon-valvuloplasty-at-aerc\/","title":{"rendered":"Rico\u2019s Story: The First Balloon Valvuloplasty at AERC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At\u00a0Animal Emergency &amp; Referral Center of\u00a0Minnesota\u00a0we strive to be a state-of-the-art referral center in order to offer the very best for your pets. Our\u00a0<a href=\"\/blog\/veterinary-services\/cardiology\/\">Cardiology Service<\/a>\u00a0has officially opened their Interventional Cath Lab, and our team can now help so many more pets with this new equipment. Dr. Michelle Rose and Dr. Robert George<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1341 alignright\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/rico1-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>, our two board-certified cardiologists, successfully performed a balloon valvuloplasty in Rico, a 3-year-old Rat Terrier who is fostered by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/rpaw.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rescued Pets are Wonderful<\/a>. Check out Rico\u2019s story below!<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Diagnosis<\/strong><br \/>\nRico was diagnosed with valvular pulmonic stenosis, a severe congenital heart disease. This means one of the valves in the right side of his heart cannot open appropriately \u2013 so his heart had to work much harder to pump blood to his lungs. His condition was so severe that his impaired valve was 173 mm Hg (normal is 0; severe is &gt; 80 mm Hg). As such, Rico\u2019s heart had become massively enlarged, and he was at risk for congestive heart failure and sudden death.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Procedure<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1342 alignright\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/cardiobvc-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/strong><br \/>\nDrs. George and Rose placed a balloon dilation catheter into the thickened right side of Rico\u2019s heart, across his\u00a0abnormal pulmonic valve. They then inflated the balloon. The<\/p>\n<p>balloon catheter caused the valve to become untethered and to open more fully, thus allowing blood to enter Rico\u2019s lungs more easily.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Outcome<\/strong><br \/>\nRico\u2019s postoperative pressure gradient was 72 mm Hg, which is considered an excellent outcome. With the success of this procedure, Rico has a much better chance of living a full and normal life with his new family!<\/p>\n<p>With their Interventional Cath Lab, our cardiologists are now equipped to perform minimally-invasive closure of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), another common congenital heart disease in dogs that can cause congestive heart failure, lung damage, and reduce survival if not corrected. Dogs that have these interventional procedures often go home with only a very small incision or catheter-sized puncture over a neck or leg vessel, sometimes so small that sutures are not needed.<\/p>\n<p>Our Cardiology Service is very excited to be able to help more pets by offering this new procedure. Could your pet benefit from seeing a board-certified veterinary cardiologist? Talk to your family veterinarian about your concerns and ask about a referral to Dr. Michelle Rose or Dr. Robert George!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At\u00a0Animal Emergency &amp; Referral Center of\u00a0Minnesota\u00a0we strive to be a state-of-the-art referral center in order to offer the very best for your pets. Our\u00a0Cardiology Service\u00a0has officially opened their Interventional Cath Lab, and our team can now help so many more pets with this new equipment. Dr. Michelle Rose and Dr. Robert George , our two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rico\u2019s Story: The First Balloon Valvuloplasty at AERC | Animal Emergency &amp; Referal Center of Minnesota<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aercmn.com\/blog\/ricos-story-the-first-balloon-valvuloplasty-at-aerc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rico\u2019s Story: The First Balloon Valvuloplasty at AERC | Animal Emergency &amp; Referal Center of Minnesota\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At\u00a0Animal Emergency &amp; Referral Center of\u00a0Minnesota\u00a0we strive to be a state-of-the-art referral center in order to offer the very best for your pets. 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