Dr. Shore's Swine Tissue Surgery Hope for Corey

I have been reading about success stories and have heard a lot of good things about Dr. Shores at the Auburn.  You can read about Abby who went to Dr. Shores and from her story my friend is also going to Auburn for Corey's Surgery.  This is a blog about Abby  She also has some videos on YouTube.  I will let her owner tell how she is doing now but this procedure is supposed to reduce the chance of scar tissue to form.  I got the following information from www.cavalierhealth.org

duraplasty using swine tissue



The alternative of a tent graft of swine tissue and body fat is called duraplasty. Dr. Andy Shores, veterinary neurologist at Auburn University in Alabama, Dr. Jill Narak, veterinary surgeon at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and others have performed this procedure on at least 21 dogs, most all of them Cavaliers. Swine intestinal submucosa was sutured over the cerebellum and brain stem in a tented fashion (see photo). Fat tissue from the dog's gluteal region was then placed over the site prior to routine closure.






In a report published in October 2009 at the American College of Veterinary Surgeons' annual symposium, the researchers stated: "Overall, recovery was considered to be good to excellent by owners. To date, none of the patients that have undergone this surgical procedure have required further surgical intervention due to postoperative compressive scar formation that has been reported in the previous literature. Follow-up time ranges from 1 week to 1 year. ... The use of the titanium mesh, placement of the screws, and the exothermic reaction of the overlying methyl methacrylate may contribute to tissue trauma. The authors conclude that with the results of this study, this procedure is clinically effective and the use of a titanium mesh, additional hardware and methyl methacrylate offers no advantage in canine COMS patients."

Corey's Surgery is next Wednesday so please keep him in your thoughts.