Section of Small Animal Internal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine and Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 201-100, Korea.
J Vet Intern Med. 2013 May-Jun;27(3):469-73. doi: 10.1111/jvim.12079. Epub 2013 Apr 18.
For treating dogs with heavy heartworm infection, mechanical removal using various retrieval devices is useful. However, the efficacy and safety of retrieval devices have rarely been studied.
Catheter-based heartworm removal using 2 retrieval devices (basket and tripod grasping forceps) is efficient and safe for treating dogs with heavy worm burden.
Fifty-two client-owned dogs with heavy (Class III and IV) worm burden.
A retrospective study was performed on 52 dogs, using a catheter-based heartworm removal approach using 2 types of retrieval devices (ie, the basket and the tripod grasping forceps). The efficacy and complications associated with the 2 devices were assessed.
The basket device was used on 22 of the study group dogs, and the tripod grasping forceps was used on 30 of the dogs. The postoperative survival rate was 95.5% for the basket device and 80% for the tripod grasping forceps, but the difference was not statistically significant. The worm number captured per attempt was 3.5 ± 1.7 using the basket device and 1.9 ± 0.85 for the tripod grasping forceps (P < .05). Various complications associated with heartworm removal were noticed with both retrieval devices.
This study suggests that catheter-based heartworm removal is not only a relatively safe and efficient therapeutic method in dogs with heavy worm burden, but more efficient using the basket device. Our data do not indicate a clear safety advantage between the 2 devices evaluated, although the survival rate was numerically higher in dogs undergoing a basket intervention.
对于患有重度心丝虫感染的犬，使用各种回收装置进行机械清除是有用的。然而，回收装置的疗效和安全性很少被研究。
使用 2 种回收装置（篮筐和三脚架抓握钳）的心丝虫去除导管法对重度虫负荷犬是有效且安全的。
52 只患有重度（III 级和 IV 级）虫负荷的客户拥有的犬。
对 52 只犬进行了回顾性研究，使用了 2 种回收装置（即篮筐和三脚架抓握钳）的基于导管的心丝虫去除方法。评估了这两种装置的疗效和相关并发症。
篮筐装置用于研究组的 22 只犬，三脚架抓握钳用于 30 只犬。篮筐装置的术后存活率为 95.5%，三脚架抓握钳为 80%，但差异无统计学意义。篮筐装置每次尝试捕获的虫数为 3.5±1.7，三脚架抓握钳为 1.9±0.85（P<.05）。两种回收装置均出现与心丝虫去除相关的各种并发症。
本研究表明，导管心丝虫去除法不仅是一种相对安全有效的治疗重度虫负荷犬的方法，而且使用篮筐装置更为有效。我们的数据并没有表明评估的两种装置之间有明显的安全优势，尽管接受篮筐干预的犬的存活率在数值上更高。
