Canine Mitral Valve Disease: Zoey’s Surgery

Zoey’s veterinarians diagnosed her with Mitral Valve Disease (MVD) in July of 2016.

We were told it was a disease of the heart where the valve degenerates causing regurgitation of blood back into the heart. This condition ultimately leads to congestive heart failure and death. They said there was no surgical option, only medication to delay its onset.

Canine Mitral Valve Disease (MVD): Zoey's Surgery

As you can imagine we were devastated, left without any hope. Zoey only had a year left to live.

I searched frantically online for something. That’s when I found that Cornell University hosted a team of Japanese doctors that perform Mitral Valve Repair surgery. Dylan Raskin was able to secure the funds to cover all the medical expenses.

Canine Mitral Valve Disease (MVD): Zoey's Surgery

His dog Esme was almost at death’s door. But two years after this surgery she is more than saved, she healthy and like a puppy.

Sadly, the doctors are only performing this surgery in France, Japan, and Singapore. Those surgeons are the only ones qualified in the world doing the surgery. I learned all I can about this. In the end, I flew my dog from Los Angeles to France for an open-heart mitral valve repair surgery.

Dr. Masami Uechi and Jean Hugues Bozon of the Clinique Veterinaire BOZON 2424 in Versailles France performed the surgery in October 2016.

Canine Mitral Valve Disease (MVD): Zoey's Surgery

Zoey is healing well and her heart has already reduced in size.

Her energy level is like a puppy.  Zoey is off Pimobendan and Enalapril for good.  She only requires blood thinners for the first three months of recovery to avoid blood clots.  No running or jumping as well until cleared by Dr. Sabine Bozon who is Zoey’s cardiologist in France.  In addition to her work, Dr. Sabine also does the Pre-operative patient profiling and is the director of the surgical aftercare program for her clinic.

Canine Mitral Valve Disease (MVD): Zoey's Surgery

Prior to surgery, Zoey’s heart was extremely large and her left atrium vein was dilated and stretched.

The surgery also revealed she was almost going to have a chord rupture. Once this is healed, her heart will continue to shrink and her murmur should reduce as well.

Zoey's Mitral Valve Disease (MVD) Surgery: Imaging

Our three-month post-op check is on January 28th with Dr. Hodge from UC Davis’s satellite office in San Diego. Zoey’s surgery had no complications and was expected to have a 98 percent result. We feel truly blessed with the level of care we have received from the 6 day ICU care from the Bozon clinic.

Currently, no US surgeon is able to perform this surgery unless they’d study abroad learning Dr. Masami’s technique, bringing it back to the US.

The surgery involves heart and lung bypass machine (seen in pics). The Bozons are the only certified specialists outside of Japan qualified to do a small animal bypass.

It involves strengthening the mitral valve with a gortex loop and reattaching the valve to the heart wall with six gortex chords to replace the stressed or stretched out chords. In addition, they strengthen and add extra chords to the heart to ensure any possible future ruptures will have no ill effects on the condition.

The goal of this surgery is to restore them to the B1 stage and to reduce the regurgitation.

By using the gortex material, there is no rejection. Valve replacements have been attempted yet failed because the body rejected it. Anti-rejection medications didn’t work.

This surgery is currently the only option to save dogs suffering from MVD and most cardiologists are unfamiliar with it.

This is history in the making.

I am always asked about the cost and why is it so expensive so here it is,

The clinic is using state of the art medical equipment that most human hospitals dream of having. For example, as the mentioned cardiopulmonary bypass machine. As well as a cell-saving machine that allows for a transfusion of Zoey’s own blood during surgery should she have needed it. Donor blood is also available onsite in the case more is needed.

I didn’t have the money but was able to secure high-interest rate loans that I barely could afford. I did this without hesitation to save Zoey.

by Nate Estes

We have set up a Facebook support group about this surgery and are helping to ease the stress of many others that will take the journey we’ve been on.

God bless,
Nathan Estes

Categories: Conditions • Heart disease • Mitral valve disease (MVD)

Tags: : • • •

Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer, dog health advocate, writer, and author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Countless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that merely seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners. What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

Share your thoughts