Liver, gall bladder and portosystemic shunt surgery

A 6-month-old small breed pup presented to us at West Midlands Referrals with signs of brain dysfunction and poor growth compared to her litter mates.

Gemma, a 7 year old Border collie, presented with a history of removal of the spleen in the previous year at the referring practice, and now had had a solitary large hepatic mass observed on an ultrasound scan.

Princess, a 2-year-old Yorkshire terrier was referred to us at West Midlands Referrals with a history of bladder stones and hepatic encephalopathy (neurological signs) attributable to the effect on the brain of toxins that the liver should have “scrubbed” out of the “dirty” blood coming from the intestines. An abnormal blood vessel called a shunt underlay the formation of the bladder stones and the shunt allowed toxins to get to the brain.

Poppy, a really sweet little 15kg cocker spaniel, came to us at West Midlands Referrals for a cruciate ligament rupture, but all that got put on hold because we spotted that she had a large mass in her abdomen lurking under the rib cage. Roger scanned this, and she had a massive liver cancer obliterating half of her liver (both the left lobes). We could not detect any spread. 

Elsa, a young female Mastiff, suffered a gastric dilatation/volvulus (GDV) and was successfully treated for this surgically at a neighbouring practice. They undoubtedly saved her life, but a few days later, she started going downhill, and Roger scanned her with us at West Midlands Referrals. It was apparent that her gall bladder had ruptured due to the GDV, causing septic peritonitis. This would be fatal if left untreated.