Minimally invasive surgery offers hope for older dogs with heart valve disease

New procedure avoids risks of conventional open-heart surgery

- Judith Tan

Snowy, a pomeranian, was 11 years old when her bouts of rapid breathing related to a heart condition worsened.

An earlier ultrasound in 2022 had shown she had mitral valve disease (MVD), a condition where the mitral valve, which separates the left upper and lower heart chambers, fails to close properly, allowing blood to leak backward.

MVD is the most common heart disease in dogs, and is particularly prevalent in small to medium-sized breeds, and middle-aged to older dogs.

"The scan picked up her heart disease during her annual checkup, and we managed with medication. Unfortunately, Snowy suffered two episodes of heart failure," her owner Esther Cheng, a 34-year-old administrative officer, told The Straits Times.

Snowy's MVD was at Stage D heart failure, which meant she was not a candidate for traditional open-heart bypass surgery. Stage D MVD is when a dog develops an enlarged heart and experiences severe, end-stage congestive heart failure. The usual medication to manage the condition also becomes ineffective.

Ms Cheng's husband Jason Ong, 34, who had to postpone his honeymoon with her in 2024 because of Snowy's fast deteriorating condition, said: "(Snowy) had to go back to the clinic every three months to monitor her condition. That was when our vet suggested we go consult Dr Chow, saying he was trained in a new technique to mend the heart without the risk of open-heart surgery. It would give her a fighting chance."

Mr Ong, a human resource business partner, was referring to veterinarian Chow Haoting. The technique that Dr Chow practises is the Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair (Teer), a novel, minimally invasive technique to treat severe mitral valve disease.