New Surgical Instrument a Success
A new surgical instrument has been used with great success in keyhole surgery on an Asian Golden Cat at Edinburgh Zoo.
The PretzelFlex, so called because of its strong resemblance to the distinctively shaped snack, was first used by Veterinary Surgeon Romain Pizzi to carry out a liver and kidney biopsy with minimal trauma to the patient. The instrument was specifically designed to hold liver and tissue during keyholes procedures of this nature and was couriered to the Zoo specially just hours before the operation.
The Asian Golden Cat, Ipoh, had recently lost weight and his keepers also noticed that the condition of his coat had deteriorated dramatically. Small cysts were detected in ultrasound scans, and a biopsy to investigate the possibility that Ipoh had Polycystic Disease was deemed necessary.
The new tool allowed the surgical team to make a full exploration of all of abdominal organs without risking the consequences of more invasive surgery. In fact, Ipoh was up, behaving normally and enjoying his usual evening meal shortly after surgery.
Mr Pizzi credited the operation's success to the new instrument: “The PretzelFlex retractor is an ingenious instrument that can be passed down a very thin keyhole cannula and then formed into a large, sturdy pretzel-like shap and used just like a hand to hold organs out of the way."
He added: "It is not only one of the cleverest instruments I have ever seen, it is also one of the most beautiful.”
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
