From Pain to Play: Tommy’s Successful Recovery Story

Tommy is a 9 year old Labrador who was seen by our orthopaedic service for investigation of severe elbow pain. Part of these investigations involved CT scans performed which when reviewed by our imaging team diagnosed both severe elbow dysplasia (the cause of the lameness) and a surprise mediastinal mass. This mass then sampled under ultrasound guidance and diagnosed as a thymoma.

A treatment plan for the elbow dysplasia was then devised by our orthopaedic team and this included arranging a course of physiotherapy with our in-house team.

After discussion with our internal medicine team, surgical removal of the thymoma was recommended to the owners. The mass was small enough (3cm) to be removed by thoracoscopy (“key-hole” chest surgery) and so this was planned by our Soft Tissue team. Tommy was then anaesthetised and put onto single-lung ventilation by our anaesthesia team so that there was enough room within the chest for the surgeons to safely remove the mass. The tumour was completely removed and Tommy recovered very smoothly in our ICU department staffed by our ECC (emergency and critical care) team. Tommy was very bright and comfortable the day after surgery and was discharged that afternoon. Tommy went on to recover uneventfully from his surgery and is currently doing very well. Not only does he no longer have a tumour growing in his chest but his original lameness has resolved and he is out enjoying his walks again!

This case really shows the advantage of dogs being treated by multi-disciplinary referral hospitals. Tommy was cared for by a large team of specialist vets who ensured that he received the best possible care using the least invasive surgical techniques performed in the safest way possible. We always prioritise the patient and having specialists in multiple disciplines allows us to formulate a holistic patient-centred treatment plan and to cope with whatever we may find in our cases no matter how unexepected!