Soft Tissue Surgery

The soft tissue service at Northern Ireland Veterinary Specialists (NiVS) is provided by ECVS and RCVS Recognised Specialists, Aidan McAlinden MVB MSc CertSAS DipECVS MRCVS and Rob Adams BVM&S DipECVS MRCVS, who are the only Specialist small animal surgeons working in Northern Ireland. They have both successfully completed residency training programmes and gained the ECVS diploma in Small Animal Surgery.

Aidan and Rob have a wealth of experience between them in the management of soft tissue cases. Evidence based medicine is at the core of their decision-making processes and both are actively involved in clinical research and postgraduate teaching.

The team are very happy able to accept referrals or to give advice by phone or email across a wide range of soft tissue conditions including but not limited to thoracic, urogenital, gastro-intestinal, oncological, skin reconstruction and ear/nose/throat surgeries.

Following a comprehensive consultation with Aidan or Rob, patients are usually admitted for further investigations and treatment on the same day, however some diagnostic procedures or surgeries may be scheduled for another time.

Surgical conditions treated by Northern Ireland Veterinary Specialists include, but are not limited to:

Upper respiratory tract

• Brachycephalic obstruction airway syndrome (BOAS).
• Laryngeal paralysis/collapse.
• Tracheotomy/tracheostomy.

Urogenital

• Ectopic ureter.
• Nephrectomy/nephrotomy.
• Prostatic surgery.
• Perineal urethrostomy.
• Urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence
• Cystoscopy.

Head and neck

• Total ear canal ablation and lateral bulla osteotomy.
• Ventral bulla osteotomy.
• Mandibulectomy/maxillectomy.
• Salivary mucocoele.
• Thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy.

Abdominal

• Hiatal hernia.
• Gastric dilation volvulus.
• Portosystemic shunt.
• Hepatic lobectomy.
• Cholecystectomy.
• Adrenalectomy.
• Laparoscopy.

Gastrointestinal

• Intestinal resection/anastomosis.
• Perineal hernia repair.
• Subtotal colectomy.
• Partial pancreatectomy for insulinoma.
• Gastropexy.
• Anal sacculectomy.

Cardiothoracic

• Vascular ring anomalies.
• Patent ductus arteriosus.
• Pericardectomy.
• Lung lobectomy.
• Diaphragmatic hernia.
• Thymoma removal.
• Thoracoscopy.
• Oesophagostomy.
• Pyothorax.
• Chylothorax.
• Pneumothorax.

Skin

• Skin flap.
• Skin graft.
• Oncological resections.
• Tumour staging

Miscellaneous

• Nasofrontal aspergillosis.
• Perineal hernia.
• Oesophageal foreign bodies.

Interventional procedures

• Interventional radiology procedures refer to surgeries using real-time fluoroscopy-guidance such as ureteral and urethral stenting.
• Intraluminal stenting for tracheal collapse.
• Subcutaneous ureteral bypass (SUB) for ureteric obstruction.

Perioperative care

Soft tissue surgery patients often require complex peri-operative care or have intensive nursing requirements. At NiVS we are proud to say our highly trained and compassionate veterinary nurses are among the finest and provide the very best perioperative care for all our patients.

Learn more about Nursing at NiVS