Page 202 - Clinical Manual of Small Animal Endosurgery

190 Clinical Manual of Small Animal Endosurgery

Fig. 6.13 The pericardium is tented away from the underlying heart
during incision and care taken to avoid the lung edges during ventilation.

Fig. 6.14 Subtotal pericardiectomy is performed leaving a small fringe of
pericardium ventral to the phrenic nerve (P).

a dog (Brisson et al., 2006), and mesothelioma is not an uncommon
cause of undiagnosed pericardial effusion.
Aside from cautery of the ventral mediastinum vessels, partly to
prevent blood dripping onto the endoscope lens and obscuring visualisa-
tion, cautery of even a markedly thickened pericardium is generally not
necessary. Use of an ultrasonic scalpel is a good alternative to bipolar
electrosurgery for both cautery and incision of the ventral mediastinum,
as well as the pericardium, if this is believed necessary.