Vet Tips

Surgical Tips-Liver and Pancreas
02/28/2009

Purchase on Ebay, a large Balfour retractor with bar blades for large dogs and two 7" Gelpi retractors for cats and small dogs.

Do not place sponges between the abdominal wall and the Balfour retractor blades as this causes slippage.

Refer all cats and gos that need kidney or ureter surgery.

Always get a culture sample of the liver along with each biopsy sample.

Use a 4mm sharp skin punch for a non-marginal biopsy of the liver and use Gelfoam in the defect to control haemorrhage.

Use iris scissors to biopsy the feline pancreas.

Biopsy the left limb of the pancreas which is away from the duodenum.

The left limb of the pancreas is located in the epiploic formamen; at this location, the pancreas shares blood supply with no other abdominal organ.

White dots on the pancreas are normal Paccinian corpuscles.

Biopsy the tail of the left limb of the pancreas and not the side.

Submitted by:
Howard Seim III, DVM ACVS