I told you in my previous post that I was very excited to attend to the 2014 SFT meeting (if you wonder what I am talking about, have a look here ). There was a reason for that: before the meeting, a little bird told me that something great would be shared on genital endoscopy in canine reproduction.
If you ever attended to one of my talk, you know that I consider genital endoscopy as one of the greatest revolution we had in the field of small animal reproduction. By allowing us to visualize the inner part of the genital tract of the bitch, it seems like it offers us limitless possibilities, whether it is for diagnostic purpose… or treatment. And these therapeutic possibilities – I should even say these NEW therapeutic alternatives- offered by endoscopy were highlighted during this conference.
TECT: what the heck is that?
There was a poster and an oral presentation that were indeed touching on TECT. Never heard this acronym before, right ? It stands for Transcervical Endoscopic Catheterization Technique. What is so great about it? I’ m not going to give too much technical details here, but to make it short it allows us to perform uterine lavage in the bitch (basically the uterus will be flushed with a saline solution containing antibiotics and prostaglandins)… and to drain ANY kind of liquid accumulation inside the uterus. You see where I am going? It offers new alternatives to medically treat diseases like pyometra (=pus in the uterus) and mucometra (=accumulation of mucus).
Uterine diseases: no more the end of the reproductive career
Again if you’ve ever been to one of my talk about uterine diseases, you’ve probably already heard me say that in 2014, we have efficient medical protocols to treat these uterine conditions that in the past were seen as the end of the reproductive career of the bitch. We already have medical protocols that are efficient and help maintain the breeding potential of the individual. So what is the big deal here then? 3 reasons for that:
#1: it reduces average treatment length from 8 to 4 days. It allows us to remove the pus or the mucus faster, which permits greater recovery.
#2: The faster we remove the pus, the better it is for the endometrium (=the inner part of the uterus, where embryos will implant) since prolonged exposure to pus especially can lead to severe alterations of this tissue.
#3: Whether it is an open-cervix or a closed-cervix pyometra (or a mucometra) does not matter, the procedure can be performed in the same way.
DR. EMMANUEL FONTAINE 