ITHACA, N.Y. \u2013 Imagine the time it takes to brew some coffee, answer an email or take out the trash \u2014 approximately five minutes, maybe less. In that amount of time, Cornell veterinarians and human medicine physicians opened a canine patient\u2019s heart to remove a tumor blocking her right ventricle.<\/p>\n
The dog, a seven-year-old yellow Labrador retriever named Lucy, started fainting regularly late last year. Her owners, the Baginski family, were concerned by this unusual behavior. \u201cThere were a few times when she became disoriented, and others when she\u2019d get excited while playing but then fall to the floor,\u201d said David Baginski.<\/p>\n
In their search for answers, the Baginskis were referred to the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM). There, the cardiologists carried out a 3D echocardiogram that showcased the tumor.<\/p>\n
\u201cLucy was periodically collapsing and essentially blacking out because of her heart\u2019s failure to oxygenate,\u201d said Dr. Galina Hayes, assistant professor of small animal surgery. \u201cThe mass was blocking the outflow of blood. If you imagine the ventricle is like a pump, it would be as if something got caught in the hose.\u201d<\/p>\n
The veterinarians were concerned that even if the cancer itself wasn\u2019t terminal, the effects of the tumor could be. The Baginskis agreed, worried that one day Lucy wouldn\u2019t wake up from a faint. \u201cAt first we thought she was just out of shape,\u201d Baginski said. \u201cWe\u2019d have to encourage her to keep up on walks, but now we know it was a circulation problem and she was getting tired.\u201d<\/p>\n