Molly is a cute fluff ball of a Ganaraskan. Although her name sounds like she belongs in a Tolkien novel, the Ganaraskan is a modern dog breed, developed only a few decades ago in Canada near the Ganaraska River in Ontario. The originators of this breed set out to develop the ideal therapy dog from English Cocker, Bichon Frise, Poodle and Miniature Schnauzer stock. Molly is typical of the breed: curly coated, anxious to please and weighing just about 20 pounds. But Molly is anything but typical; she is a legend in her own time a survivor of a major cardiac procedure necessary to save her life.

An Early Beginning of a Legend

Molly’s story starts when she is just a young pup and is diagnosed with a heart murmur at ten weeks of age. An echocardiogram did not identify a cause for the murmur and since the murmur was not very loud, no treatment was prescribed. Two years later, Molly came to The Animal Medical Center for evaluation of a fractured tooth. Dr. Stephen Riback, one of The AMC’s dentists, heard the murmur and recommended an echocardiogram.

The “Heart” of the Problem

The echocardiogram, performed by one of The AMC’s board certified cardiologists, Dr. Dennis Trafny, revealed an enlarged heart and a 4mm (1/8 inch) wide abnormal blood vessel known as a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). Normal before birth, the PDA typically closes shortly thereafter. In Molly, the PDA did not close, allowing blood to traverse between two major blood vessels, the aorta and the pulmonary artery. The abnormal blood flow caused the heart murmur. But the murmur was just a harbinger of a future, more serious problem: the potential risk of heart failure if the abnormal blood flow was not halted.

The first technique available to veterinary cardiologists for repairing PDAs in dogs required a thoracic surgery to ligate the PDA vessel using suture material. The incision scar was the size of your hand on the dog’s chest. Now, veterinary cardiologists use fluoroscopy, a special video x-ray machine, to guide a special catheter with a disc occluder up through a blood vessel in the leg, into the heart and right to the site of the PDA. When the disc occluder was deployed on both sides of Molly’s PDA, it corrected the abnormal blood flow. All it took was an incision the size of your fingertip on the inside of her leg and a highly skilled team of AMC veterinarians and medical staff.

Screen Legend: A Movie of Blood Flow

The video clips of Molly’s procedure come from The AMC’s fluoroscopy machine. It is a special x-ray machine which makes a video x-ray of a procedure.

In the first video clip, before the PDA was occluded, the rapidly moving black material is a special contrast agent administered intravenously to highlight the PDA. The contrast agent should all stay in the big blood vessel (aorta), but instead it circulates throughout the lungs and the blood vessels highlighted by the contrast agent represent blood vessels in the lungs.

In the second video clip, you can see the PDA has been closed off with a disc occluder. It blocks the blood flow through the PDA. You see the blood does not circulate abnormally through the lungs like in the first video.

Two weeks following surgery, Molly’s cardiac size decreased by 25% and she is doing well today. She is no longer at risk for developing heart failure and is expected to live a long, full life!

If you liked Molly’s story, you might want to hear other stories of medical triumphs at the 7th Annual Living Legends Luncheon on May 12th. Learn more about this event.