Cardiology

Overview

At ChesterGates Veterinary Specialists, we are dedicated to providing exceptional cardiology services for your patients. Our team, led by the highly experienced Liz Bode and Mattia Basili, is committed to delivering the highest standard of care. Whether you need to refer a case or seek expert advice, Liz and Mattia are readily available via phone or email to assist with any heart-related concerns.

Our Cardiology Specialists have both undergone 4 years of intensive, cardiology-only specialist training. They have over 17 years of cardiology experience between them, treating all manners of heart disease in some of the busiest referral hospitals in the UK. They also are some of the most experienced interventional cardiologists in the North West of the UK treating dogs as small as 1.5kg. Most referrals are handled and accepted in less than 1 hour, with clients receiving an appointment within 24 hours depending on the severity of the condition.

Heart disease is common in cats and dogs and our cardiologists are kept busy seeing their own primary cases, but also assessing many of the patients that have come in through other disciplines. If a patient from a different service requires an anaesthetic or sedation, our cardiologists work closely with our anaesthesia team to make sure that each patient is guided through their anaesthetic as safely as possible.

Diagnostics

The majority of the patients have no clinical signs of heart disease and may simply come for investigation of a heart murmur or an abnormal heart rhythm. The vast majority do not require any sedation or anaesthetic and our outpatient service means that our patients usually spend no more than 2-3 hours in the hospital.

Comprehensive Cardiology Services: Our cardiology team is equipped to handle a wide range of heart conditions, ensuring your patients receive the best possible care. We welcome referrals for:

• Investigation of Heart Murmurs: Thorough evaluation of congenital or acquired heart murmurs.
• Arrhythmias: Expert interpretation and advice on ECG traces, including complex brady or tachyarrhythmias.
• Exercise Intolerance
• Syncope or Collapsing Episodes: Comprehensive diagnostics to determine the cause of fainting or collapse.
• Respiratory Issues: Evaluation of coughing or breathing difficulties related to cardiac conditions and more.

Advanced Diagnostic Capabilities

Our state-of-the-art diagnostic tools enable us to provide accurate and timely diagnoses.

• Echocardiography including transesophageal echocardiography: High-quality images utilising spectral and colour flow Doppler for quick and reliable diagnosis.
• Electrocardiography (ECG): Including Telemetry, 24-hour, 48-hour, or 7-day Holter monitoring for continuous heart rhythm assessment.
• Radiography and CT: High-resolution digital thoracic and upper airway imaging.
• Fluoroscopy: Our high-quality machine allows excellent resolution that allows cardiac interventions, as well as investigations of respiratory diseases such as tracheal collapse.
• Bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage: Direct visualisation of the airways for comprehensive evaluation and sample collection.
• Blood Pressure: As well as many other standard assessments which are routinely performed when required.

Cutting-Edge Interventions

We offer a range of advanced interventional procedures to treat various cardiac conditions. Pacemaker implantation, tracheal stenting, balloon valvuloplasty and stenting and PDA occlusion are covered by our fixed price packages:

• Pericardiocentesis: Effective emergency management of pericardial effusion.
• Pericardiectomy: Performed in collaboration with our skilled surgery team. This can be associated with the placement of a pleural port to reduce the recheck intervals, when appropriate.
• Pacemaker Implantation: Implantation of pacemakers to treat bradyarrhythmias. This is a brief but life-saving procedure that often leads to excellent results. We are also able to offer this out-of-hours if required.
• Balloon Valvuloplasty: Minimally invasive procedure to treat pulmonic valve stenosis.
• Pulmonary Artery Stenting: Placement of a stent to manage complicated cases with hypoplastic pulmonic artery resulting in pulmonic stenosis that would not respond to classic balloon valvuloplasty surgery.
• Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) Minimally invasive surgery: Correction of PDA to close the defect using high-quality devices such as ACDO or AVPII in small patients (our smallest patient so far was 1.5 kg).
• PDA Surgical Closure: We team up with our soft tissue surgery team to close PDA with an open-chest surgery in cases where a minimally invasive technique is not recommended.
• Tracheal stent placement: We are amongst a few centres in the UK that perform tracheal stent implantation for patients with tracheal collapse.
• Cardioversion: Electrical resetting of an arrhythmia, such as atrial fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia.

Puppy and kitten clinics

Often the above procedures are performed in young patients with congenital heart disease (abnormalities that the patient has been born with), for which we have a discounted Puppy and Kitten Clinic. Please contact us for more information.