Clinical Application of Novel Heartworm Removal Forceps

Abstract: Background – Mechanical removal of heartworms from the cardiac chambers and main pulmonary arteries benefits dogs with severe heartworm infection by rapidly reducing worm burden, but there is a need for additional device options to accomplish this.

Hypothesis/Objectives – Our novel heartworm forceps facilitate safe and effective worm removal from dogs.

Animals – Ten dogs with heartworm infection (Class 3 and 4)

Methods – We retrospectively evaluated the use of our novel heartworm removal forceps in 10 dogs. The rotatable basket-shaped forceps have a 45-degree angle at the tip or easy access to the intracardiac and pulmonary arteries and the removal of many worms at a time. The number of worms pulled and short-term follow-up was reported for these 10 dogs.

Results – The procedure was performed under general anesthesia via right jugular venotomy with fluoroscopic guidance. Heartworms were found in the right atrium and right ventricle of all patients, including 1 patient found in the pulmonary artery. All patients had no complications during the removal. The mean (SD) number of removed heartworms was 21 ± 14. No heartworms were detected by echocardiography in the heart and pulmonary arteries immediately and 10 days post-procedure in 7 dogs. In 3 dogs, 1 or 2 worms were visualized in the pulmonary arteries after the removal.

Conclusions and clinical importance – This study showed that these novel forceps can safely remove heartworms from intracardiac and pulmonary arterial locations in dogs with heartworm infection.



Figure 1: Novel heartworm removal forceps




Figure 2: Pulmonary artery access under fluoroscopy