Anaesthetic management and complications of transvascular patent ductus arteriosus occlusion in dogs.

OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively analyse the anaesthetic management, complications and haemodynamic changes in a cohort of dogs undergoing transvascular patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) occlusion in a tertiary referral centre (from January 2017 to August 2018). STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. ANIMALS: A total of 49 client-owned dogs. METHODS: Anaesthetic records of dogs with PDA that underwent transvascular occlusion of the ductus were reviewed. Anaesthetic complications evaluated included tachycardia [heart rate (HR) > 160 beats minute-1], bradycardia (HR < 50 beats minute-1), hypertension [systolic arterial pressure (SAP) > 150 mmHg], hypotension [mean arterial pressure (MAP) < 60 mmHg], hypothermia (<37 °C) and the presence of arrhythmias. Cardiovascular variables [HR and invasive SAP, MAP and diastolic arterial pressure (DAP)] at the time of occlusion device deployment (time 0) were compared with variables at 5 and 10 minutes after deployment. Descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk test and repeated measures analysis of variance followed by a Dunnett's post hoc test were used to analyse the data (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Crossbreed dogs were the most commonly represented followed by the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. The median age was 8 (2-108) months, and female dogs were over-represented (65.3%). The most common American Society of Anesthesiologists score was III. Mean duration of anaesthesia was 96 ± 26 minutes and mean surgery time was 58 ± 21 minutes. Acepromazine with methadone was the most commonly used premedication combination (77.6%). Propofol was the most common induction agent (73.5%). General anaesthesia was maintained with isoflurane in oxygen in all dogs. Complications included hypotension (63%), hypothermia (34%), bradycardia (28%), arrhythmias (16%), hypertension (16%) and haemorrhage (2%). MAP and DAP increased significantly 10 minutes after device deployment compared with time 0. CONCLUSIONS: and clinical relevance: Hypotension was the most common complication reported in dogs undergoing transvascular PDA occlusion. No major adverse events were documented.

A novel technique for oviduct occlusion to generate live births from cryopreserved rabbit oocytes after in vivo fertilisation.

Intraoviductal transfer technique in combination with in vivo fertilisation has arisen as an effective technique to assess live births after transfer of slow-frozen oocytes in the rabbit. Nevertheless, the great disadvantage of this method is the accumulation of tubal fluid in a large number of females after clamping the oviducts. In this study, we develop an alternative method to minimise damage to the oviduct and increase the birth rate. The aims of this study were (1) to evaluate the ability of cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive to occlude the oviduct for female sterilisation; (2) to evaluate the effect of oviduct occlusion immediately after transferring fresh oocytes on in vivo fertilisation; and (3) to assess this technique to generate live births from fresh and slow-frozen oocytes. In all the experiments, recipients were artificially inseminated 9h prior to occluding the oviducts. In the first experiment, the left oviduct was blocked with cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive, while the right one was used as a control. Six days later, oviducts and uterine horns were flushed to assess embryo recovery rates. While the embryo recovery rate was 79.2% in the intact oviduct, no embryos were recovered in the blocked one. In the second experiment, fresh oocytes were transferred into both oviducts, which were immediately occluded. Six days later, the in vivo fertilisation success rate was 33.7%. Finally, in the last experiment, slow-frozen oocytes were transferred and the rate of live births was 13.2±4.5%. The study shows that when using this method the generation of live births from slow-frozen oocytes increases significantly. In addition, our results suggest that in vivo environment could help improve the results of oocyte cryopreservation.