surgery rising...

tomorrow morning i will attempt new (to me) surgeries. these include incisional liver, kidney, and intestinal biopsies, as well as a cystotomy (opening the bladder for removal of stones, etc) and an incisional gastropexy. incisional gastropexy is pretty cool. it's used prophylactically in large breed dogs that are predisposed to GDV. that stands for gastric dilatation and volvulus. it's a condition in which the stomach flips on its axis so that egress from the stomach (via the pylorus) is obstructed. food and fluid cannot pass into the digestive tract, so the stomach fills and fills until it ruptures. this is an idiopathic condition - in that no one is sure what causes it. only that it happens in large breed dogs with deep chests - like german shepherds and mastiffs. obviously when GDV occurs, it's an emergency scenario. often, in a dog with predisposition for this, a gastropexy will be performed at an early age to help prevent GDV. that's what we're doing tomorrow. a gastropexy is exactly what it sounds like - the stomach is pexied to the body wall to prevent rotation on the axis. it's a pretty nifty surgery, and there are many different approaches - muscular flap gastropexy, circumcostal gastropexy, tube gastropexy, etc etc. i'm excited to try my hand at doing one. i'm sure the results of my first aren't going to be pretty...but we'll see. the biopsies sound much more straightforward. as does the cystotomy... but then again, it's surgery -- so - as i said - we'll see. hopefully i'll have pics to post after tomorrow.