First total ear canal removal surgery performed on Ella the pig at Oregon State veterinary hospital
New university findings highlight potential implications for dogs, surgery, and veterinary practice.
Susanne Stieger-Vanegas assisted with the diagnostic imaging and printing, which helped the team visualize and plan how they would perform the surgery.
— Doctors at Oregon State University’s veterinary hospital performed the first known total ear canal ablation surgery on a pig last week, in consultation with a human ear doctor who previously operated on the lead veterinary surgeon’s ear.
19, 3-year-old Vietnamese potbelly pig Ella is doing well and is currently recuperating from the procedure at the Lois Bates Acheson Veterinary Teaching Hospital in OSU’s Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine.
Ella needed the surgery because she had chronic ear infections and had gone through several months-long rounds of antibiotics, said Jessica Vasselin from the nonprofit Morningside Farm Sanctuary in Veneta, Oregon, where Ella has lived for about two years after being rescued from a hoarding situation in California.
Total ear canal ablation is the full removal of the ear canal and is commonly done in dogs.
Katy Townsend couldn’t find any record of it being performed on pigs, whose external ear canals are mostly housed in a bony column, making access difficult for surgery.
While pig ears are very different from dog ears, they are a great model for human ears, so Townsend called her own doctor for advice.
Timothy Hullar operated on her five years ago to correct a condition called otosclerosis, in which the bones of the inner ear fuse and cause deafness.
“He always said to me, ‘If you ever want to collaborate on anything, I would love to,’” Townsend recalled.
“After reading this research and finding that pigs have really similar ear canals to humans, I emailed him and said, ‘Hi, do you remember me?’ And he said he’d love to help.” Townsend and Hullar collaborated to get a 3-D printed skull based on a CT scan Ella received at OSU.
“I look at ear scans five times a day, but it’s not so common that pigs get them,” said Hullar, who also works at the Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System.
The report adds to ongoing university-led research relevant to veterinary medicine, animal health, and clinical decision-making.
Source university website: Oregon State University Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine
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