An Advanced Surgery Centre lead by Veterinarian Dr Stephen Rabie. Special interest in Orthopaedic Surgery & Treatment. www.baldivisvet.com.au
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At Baldivis Advanced Surgery Centre we offer the very best service for your pet. We provide access to complicated orthopaedic, joint and soft tissue surgery. We accept referrals from other veterinarians. Our 3 sterile small animal theatres are fitted out with state of the art equipment. One of the most common injuries requiring surgery is cruciate ligament rupture (ACL). At Baldivis Advanced Surge
ry Centre we are able to provide the best surgery suited to your pet. We are able to offer TPLO, TTO, TTA and Extracapsular surgery for the damaged knee. Our patients are monitored and cared for 24 hours of the day by dedicated Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Nurses.
Our wonderful rehabilitation nurses ensuring that Arlo has a great time during his physio therapy sessions so that he can rehabilitate from his orthopaedic procedure while also having fun!
Luckily Arlo loves teddies, cuddles and treats so he doesn’t realise he’s also performing physio and improving his mobility.
Our advanced surgery team offer physio therapy and rehabilitation programs for post operative patients as well as patients with injuries and arthritis.
All creatures great and.... SMALL!
As veterinarians we are very privileged to work on a wide variety of species. This makes our day-to-day job very interesting.
Even within a species, we deal with so many variations which poses it’s own set of challenges.
This was the case with Buttons, the most adorable 4 month old Yorkshire terrier.
IMAGE 1: Buttons with Baldivis Veterinary Advanced Surgery Centre nurse Meg.
Buttons (all 2.7 kg of him!) was outside playing with the other family dog and was later found to be non-weight bearing his back leg.
X-rays taken by Baldivis Vet Hospital revealed that the poor little guy had fractured his tibia, clearly an accident however it can happen easily with little bones such as his.
Image 2. The tibia fracture can be seen clearly on this view.
Luckily, although it's still not nice to go through, this was not a bad fracture as far as fractures go. The bone had broken into 2 neat fragments and the pieces would fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The fragments had also not displaced too badly making it easier to put back together.
So what might be so challenging? This little bone only measures 5 mm in diameter, and is only 68 mm in length (see the post-operative x-rays to appreciate the small size)!
The challenge is trying to find implants (plates, screws, pins etc.) that are small enough to fit on this bone without further damaging it. Yet the implants need to be strong enough to last the healing period.
Following some careful planning it was decided to repair this little bone with a rod down the central bone shaft and some orthopedic wire. The biggest pin we could fit down the shaft of this bone only measures 0.8 mm!
Images 3 and 4. Here the fracture has been repaired with an intra-medullary rod and orthopedic wire. Note the size of the bone compared to my reading glasses!
Buttons has now gone home and is currently making great recovery!
Ziggy the bouncy Staffordshire puppy ✨
Ziggy is a 3-month old Staffordshire puppy. One afternoon she was happily playing out in the back yard when all of a sudden Ziggy came back in and was non-weight bearing lame in her right forelimb. There was no evidence of severe trauma, such as a motor vehicle accident or similar.
Image 1: Ziggy seen here with Baldivis Advanced Surgery Centre veterinary nurse Jen Griffiths
Ziggy was seen by Baldivis Emergency Vets and x-rays revealed that she had fractured her right elbow, right through an active area of bone growth. The type of injury that Ziggy had sustained is seen quite commonly in young puppies. Young animals have active growth plates that allow for bone growth and these growth plates are biomechanically weak areas that can break with a minor amount of force. Quite often these types of injuries are due to a minor source of trauma, such as jumping off a couch or similar.
Image 2: X-RAY IMAGES TAKEN OF ZIGGYS ELBOW PRIOR TO SURGERY
Yellow Arrow indicates the fracture within the elbow
Blue arrow indicates some of the active growth plates of the long bones
Ziggy was admitted to Baldivis Advanced Surgery Centre for surgical repair of her elbow. The repair seen below is typical for a fracture of this type. A screw is placed across the fracture, to compress and hold the two fragments together. The pin extending up from the elbow prevents rotation of these fragments.
The technical difficulty in this type of fracture arises from the fact that you are working in the region of the radial, median and ulnar nerves. These nerves surround the elbow and are major nerves to the forelimb, damage of which would result in paralysis of the limb. Furthermore there is only a very narrow column of bone through which the screw can be placed. Should one miss this column of bone the screw may enter the joint and this would result in arthritis of the joint.
Image 3 and 4: X-RAY IMAGES IMMEDIATLEY AFTER ZIGGY’S SURGERY
The arrows indicating the screws and pins placed in the elbow.
The day after surgery Ziggy was discharged to the loving care of her family. Within a week she is already walking on the leg. Ziggy should make an uneventful recovery. Ziggy's only issue now is she tends to get very carsick when travelling!!
SOPHIE, THE SPARKLY BORDER COLLIE PUP ✨
Sophie is a beautiful, 9 month old Border collie puppy. Unfortunately she was involved in a motor vehicle accident last week. A car ran over her and she sustained severe injuries. She was rushed to Baldivis Veterinary Hospital where she was promptly stabilised and treated for her pain and injuries.
Image 1. Beautiful Sophie three days after her surgery at Baldivis Advanced Surgery Centre.
Sophie was unable to walk and was in severe pain. Fortunately her chest sounded clear, which meant that injuries to her heart and lungs were less likely. Once she was treated for shock and pain she was rushed to x-rays.
The horrific nature of her injuries could be appreciated on x-rays. The car had shattered her pelvis, and the pelvis had been separated from her spine! The bone in her p***s had suffered multiple fractures.
Image 2. Pelvic x-ray showing the horrific nature of Sophie’s injuries.
Yellow (➡) – Pelvis broken free from the spine
Green (➡) - Multiple fractures to the p***c region of the pelvis
The following day Sophie was admitted to Baldivis Advanced Surgery Centre for emergency pelvic surgery. The surgery involved carefully re-aligning Sophie’s pelvis and placing screws into the spine to re-attach the pelvis to the spine. The risk involved in this surgery includes injuring the spinal cord and paralysing the patient should the screws not be placed accurately!
Image 3 and 4 . Here we can see the screws that were placed into Sophie’s pelvis and spine to re-attach the pelvis to the spine.
Following surgery Sophie was handed to the care of Baldivis Emergency Vet. The following day Sophie was able to walk and was discharged to the care of her loving family. She is currently making an uneventful recovery at home!
597 Baldivis Road Baldivis
Perth, WA
6171
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