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‘I think it’s very exciting’: Veterinary Referral Center of Central Oregon offers brain surgery for pets

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(Update: Adding video, comments from staff)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A dog is living a healthier life, thanks to a local veterinary brain surgery.  The Veterinary Referral Center of Central Oregon is offering veterinarian brain surgery, offering hope to pet parents facing complicated neurological disorders. 

"I think it's very exciting, the fact that we can help that," Andrea Rosebrook, VRCCO's certified veterinary technician, said Tuesday. "I think a lot of people aren't aware that that's something that's available to us."

Recently, the center had a success story-  a 6-year-old cocker spaniel dog named Kai.

VRCCO neurologist Dr. Chen-Allen said, "He had a chronic history of a head tilt. Kai also had a lot of ear infections. So for a really long time, they thought it was associated with an ear infection. He did multiple times respond to antibiotics and some steroids."

VRCCO was able to do a CT of Kai's brain, revealing a cyst, located in the back of the brain. This caused compression to the back of his brain, along with spinal fluid buildup, which produced the head tilt. 

Chen-Allen said, "We took him to surgery. We were able to approach the back of the skull. So we open a window with a drill, identify the cyst, and then we were able to decompress and reset that cyst."

Within 24 hours, Kai was back to normal, with his head tilt resolved, a few days after surgery. 

VRCCO says it believes pets and pet parents deserve the most advanced care, and its neurology services are up to the challenge. 

Rosebrook said, "It's actually a very, like, fascinating thing and really exciting to be a part of. Just like Dr. Chen was saying, how he presented, how we were able to treat him."

Starting this year, VRCCO is offering open mouth surgery, also known as pituitary surgery for a pituitary tumor. The center also recently received an MRI machine for better imaging of the nervous system. 

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Here is the center's recent news release about the surgery:

The Veterinary Referral Center of Central Oregon is known for advanced veterinary care including emergency and specialty medical services. Their hospital and highly trained staff give difficult cases the technology and expertise needed to achieve results that may otherwise not be possible. One recent example is a case that arrived at VRCCO in July of 2024.

Kai, a 6-year-old Cocker Spaniel, came to VRCCO to meet with board-certified, veterinary Neurologist Dr. Annie Chen-Allen, DVM, MS, Dip ACVIM after experiencing months of vestibular symptoms including a head tilt and balance issues. His symptoms originally seemed to improve with medication provided by his family veterinarian; however, Kai eventually regressed into a more severe head tilt along with balance issues and mentation changes that worried his pet-parents.

With the advent of high-quality brain imaging, VRCCO had the opportunity and knowledge to give Kai a more accurate diagnosis and provide the best treatment options available to him. CT imaging revealed that Kai had a large cerebellar cyst causing compression of the back of his brain along with spinal fluid buildup. There were two possible options for Kai's treatment, to continue long-term medication use or brain surgery to decompress the cyst. Surgery for Kai would potentially be curative although brain surgery also comes with substantial risk. After significant consideration and given Kai's young age, his pet-parents decided to pursue their hope for a cure through surgery and avoid the side effects of long-term medication use.

Dr. Chen-Allen alongside VRCCO's surgeons performed a suboccipital craniectomy on Kai on July 30. Dr. Chen-Allen was able to successfully decompress the cyst and allow the release of spinal fluid. Kai recovered smoothly, with noticeable positive changes within days of returning home. Kai has since presented as neurologically normal and has been weaned off of medication.

This surgery has allowed Kai the chance to live a healthy, fulfilling life. Because of his pet-parent's perseverance and trust in VRCCO Neurology, they can be reassured that they did everything to help Kai and give him the life he deserves. For Dr. Chen-Allen, Kai's story is just the beginning. She is confident that this is only a start to the impact her department can make at VRCCO.

Starting this year, the Veterinary Referral Center of Central Oregon will be one of the few centers in the country to offer pituitary surgery for pituitary tumor resection. This specialized procedure will allow Dr. Chen-Allen to continue pushing the envelope for veterinary neurology in order to provide pets with a chance at attaining the highest quality of life possible.

VRCCO believes that pets and pet-parents deserve the best, most advanced care. Their Neurology service is up for this challenge and is quickly becoming the trusted center for pets with complicated neurologic diseases. Learn more about Kai's personalized experience with VRCCO, click to watch his video story on YouTube, Facebook or Instagram.

Article Topic Follows: Pets

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Kelsey McGee

Kelsey McGee is a multimedia journalist for NewsChannel 21. Learn more about Kelsey here.

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