With new imaging device, Madras Veterinary College to offer its patients minimally invasive procedures
The Hindu
A fluoroscopy now installed at the interventional medicine clinic at the college, will help vets place stents and use balloon dilation techniques for heart, neurological and other diseases in animals
The Madras Veterinary College in Vepery has achieved the distinction of being the first educational institution in the country to establish an interventional medicine clinic. The clinic, with the installation of a fluoroscopy, a medical imaging technique, will help veterinarians diagnose and treat animals with minimally invasive procedures.
K.N. Selvakumar, Vice Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS), who inaugurated the unit on Wednesday, said it marked a new era in veterinary interventional practice in the country. “We expect a paradigm shift in the coming years,” he added.
T. Sathiamoorthy, director of the clinics, explained that the unit had made highly advanced treatment procedures possible for animals that were, so far, only available to human beings. The cost of the fluoroscopy was ₹40 lakh, he said. “We can reach out to any part of the body of an animal through blood vessels and provide treatment. It will be of immense help in tracheal stenting, ureteral and urethral stenting, balloon dilatation in cases of aortic and pulmonic stenosis (heart valve disease), coiling in patent ductus arteriosus (a heart defect) and neurological interventions,” he said.
S. Kavitha, head of the department of veterinary clinical medicine, explained the college’s research plans for stem cell infusion in dogs. “Infusion can be done in coronary vessels by cardiac catheterization for primary dilated cardiomyopathy (a heart disease) and in the renal artery by catheterization, for chronic kidney disease. The procedures will prolong the life span of the animal and cure certain diseases which need lifelong treatment,” she said.
R. Karunankaran, dean of the college, said the unit would elevate veterinary practice to the next level of patient care.
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