Soft Tissue Surgery
The surgery faculty is a young, diverse, and enthusiastic group of clinical academicians dedicated to teaching and the advancement of clinical veterinary medicine. The great strengths of the surgery faculty lie in their ability to teach students the science and art of surgery in the core clinical surgery rotations. They are key players in teaching core and elective lecture courses and laboratories. The faculty excels in teaching the students with the case material presented to the Surgery services through the clinics and Emergency Service every day.
The surgery group has one of the largest pools of soft tissue surgery specialists at any veterinary hospital, academic or otherwise.
The blend of youth and experience in the surgery faculty show the students, interns, and residents in clinical rotations enthusiasm and perspective, enterprise and wisdom. The faculty members retain a vital interest in cases and teaching with them, yet are seasoned enough to offer the students on the surgery a depth of knowledge and insight that comes with experience. These same qualities can be found in the lectures given by the surgery faculty, and are reflected in the numerous teaching awards given to the Surgery faculty over the last ten years.
The Soft Tissue services treat dogs, cats, and exotic species requiring surgery for ear, nose and throat, thoracic and cardiac, gastrointestinal, respiratory, and urogenital diseases. In addition the services treat a diverse population of animals that require surgery for repair and reconstruction of traumatic injuries, congenital diseases, and cancer. The Soft Tissue services are staffed by ACVS Board certified surgeons, residents, and interns.
There are two Soft Tissue Surgery services that perform surgery Monday through Friday during the week. Each service alternates surgery days. Each service receives cases from clinic appointments in the morning, then performs the necessary diagnostic investigations on those cases in the afternoon. The majority of cases are then scheduled for surgery the following day. Some more complex cases require extensive diagnostic procedures under anesthesia. Such procedures include CT, angiography, biopsy, and are necessary to determine the nature and extent of disease and the feasibility of surgical therapy. The Soft Tissue Surgery service also receives cases transferred from the Medicine, Oncology, Intensive Care, and Emergency services. Cases transferred from these services generally receive surgery on a "medical priority" basis, especially on busy surgery days. The kidney transplant program for cats is headed by Dr. Lillian Aronson.
Emergency surgery is available every night of the week and on weekends. Because this service is often very busy, surgery is performed on a medical priority basis.