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Cardiothoracic Surgery
The RVC is Europe's leading centre for pet heart surgery, having been at the forefront since 2005.
For those of you who are interested in heart surgery for your pet but not currently on our enquires list, please contact qmhaheartsurgery@rvc.ac.uk were we will be happy to take your contact details and will contact you for further information as soon as we can.
Thank you for your interest in the RVC heart surgery programme
The first open heart surgery performed by the team led by Dan Brockman was in 2005. It was performed by Professor of Small Animal Surgery Dan Brockman. In 2016, the RVC became the first veterinary service in the world to successfully treat a dog's stenotic (narrowed) tricuspid valve with open heart surgery. The Labrador patient, Mabel, suffered from congenital tricuspid dysplasia. Dysplasia of the tricuspid valve can cause either leakage of blood or stenosis.
Heart valve dysplasia can affect the aortic, pulmonary, mitral or tricuspid valves of the heart. The most common one to affect dogs is mitral valve disease and the RVC is one of a few centres in world to correct the condition with surgery
