Top 2024 dvm360 podcasts: #2

The Vet Blast Podcast hosted by Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, chief veterinary officer of dvm360, and edited by dvm360’sCaitlin McCafferty, featured a wide variety of veterinary topics and guests throughout the past year. As 2024 comes to a close, dvm360 is looking back and celebrating the Top 5 podcasts, as measured by audience interest and engagement. Through, New Year’s Eve, dvm360 is counting down the Top 5 podcasts by sharing 1 of these episodes per day.

The following podcast is #2 on the list and features guest Shadi Ireifej, DVM, DACVS, chief medical officer of VetTriage. They discuss tips that general practitioners can implement at their practice to help clinics possibly see fewer pyometra cases.

Shadi Ireifej, DVM, DACVS: One of the pearls I like to stress when I give pyometra talks is surgical exposure. It's all too often that very experienced, well-intentioned general practitioners will try to create as small an incision as possible for their spay. And it looks impressive, it's quicker surgery because less closing time, the pet owner loves the tiny incision which means [their pet] is not going to be in that much pain postoperatively, [and] less chance of complications. However, if you are trying to operate on a large breed dog or a deep-chested dog, and you're working in those caverns, you need to not be shy about making a larger incision in order to get access to the ovarian tissue and that uterus. You don't need to overdo it, you should be adequate. You can always make your incision longer if you need to start small and go longer, but that's point No. 1.

Point No. 2 is retraction. So I'm fortunate as a boarded surgeon, that usually I have all the bells and whistles. I got all the toys, I can have 3 assistants in there if I want to right to retract stuff and hold things. That's me. Most spays are done by general practitioners. They're not going to have the staffing for that, nor the toys. So you need to have not only a big incision, as seems realistic for that dog that size a dog but also need to retract either have somebody, or something, push those organs aside, you can actually visualize the ovaries in that gutter or self-retracting Balfour retractors. Great solution.

Subscribe to The Vet Blast Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.