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Introducing….Our Surgery Service!

We have almost reached the end of our tour of The Ralph’s clinical services and today is the turn of Soft Tissue and Orthopaedic Surgery. So let’s take a closer look at what they will offer and meet the people who will make it all happen.

Our Surgery Service will investigate and treat an extensive range of surgical conditions, including soft tissue (e.g. abdominal, thoracic (chest), masses), and orthopaedic (musculoskeletal – bone, muscle, ligament, tendon) disorders. The Surgery Service will work closely with our other services to provide a comprehensive and integrated approach to each patient’s care. Patients who undergo surgery at The Ralph will have a focused peri-operative care plan and will benefit from 24/7 excellent and compassionate care provided by our dedicated and highly qualified team.

The types of surgical procedures we will perform at The Ralph include:

Soft Tissue surgeries:

  • Upper respiratory tract surgery (e.g. brachycephalic obstruction airway syndrome (BOAS), laryngeal paralysis, tracheostomies)
  • Urogenital surgery (e.g. ectopic ureter, nephrectomy/nephrotomy, cystotomy, urethrostomy, prostatic surgery, urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence, subcutaneous ureteral bypass system (SUBS))
  • Head and neck surgery (e.g. total ear canal ablation and lateral bulla osteotomy, ventral bulla osteotomy, salivary mucocoele, thyroidectomy/parathyroidectomy)
  • Abdominal surgery (e.g. hiatal hernia, splenectomy, portosystemic shunt, gastric dilation-volvulus (GDV), hepatic lobectomy, biliary diversion surgery, adrenalectomy)
  • Thoracic surgery (e.g. vascular ring anomalies, patent ductus arteriosus, pericardectomy, lung lobectomy, diaphragmatic hernia, thymoma removal)
  • Dermatological surgery (e.g. oncological resections, skin flaps, skin grafts)

Orthopaedic surgeries:

  • Fracture repair (internal and external fixation)
  • Cruciate ligament repair (lateral tibiofabella suture, TPLO, cranial closing wedge osteotomy)
  • Medial patella luxation repair
  • Arthrodesis
  • Angular limb deformity correction
  • Arthroscopy
  • Luxation/sprains/shear injury repair
  • Joint replacements, including total hip replacement

Our surgical team will utilise a range of specialist surgical and non-surgical equipment to support their delivery of excellent and compassionate care. This includes, but is not limited to, advanced diagnostic imaging, minimally invasive ‘keyhole’ techniques, and intensive patient monitoring and support as needed.

Now to meet the people behind the Service…

Making it all possible…

Sam Marshall

Sam graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1993 after which she worked in general practice for 8 years. She always knew that she had a love for surgery which she pursued, gaining her RCVS Certificate in Small Animal Surgery in 2001. Since then Sam has been seeing both soft tissue and orthopaedic surgical cases from practices in and around the Thames Valley. Sam became an RCVS Advanced Practitioner in Small Animal Surgery in 2015.

Sam will primarily be seeing soft tissue surgery cases, enjoying all aspects of soft tissue surgery, with a particular interest in minimally invasive, reconstructive and airway surgery.

Sam lives locally to Marlow with her husband Jason, their three children as well as a menagerie of pets – Harry the cat, Indie the Sprocker spaniel who started life as a Police dog puppy, Henry the Shih Tzu, four chickens and Coco the horse. Sam enjoys riding her horse and running in the beautiful Chiltern Hills outside Marlow. She also enjoys going to the gym when she has time and looking after her garden.

Stefano Genoni 

Stefano graduated from the University of Milan with First Class Honours and moved to the UK soon after as he was awarded a European Scholarship in Small Animal Surgery. In 2010 Stefano pursued a one-year rotating internship, during which he spent a portion of time in Canada training in surgical oncology. Stefano then started studying towards his Certificate in Small Animal Surgery, which he achieved in 2013, followed by a University Postgraduate Certificate achieved in 2016. Stefano is an RCVS Recognised Advanced Practitioner in Small Animal Surgery and has spent the last four years working in referral practices. Over the past few years, Stefano has focused his practice on orthopaedic surgery but has a keen interest in all aspects of small animal surgery.

Stefano shares his life with his partner Danielle and loves travelling, motorcycling (especially when the two are combined), and scuba diving. He is a big fan of extreme sports – much to his partner’s delight!  Stefano and Danielle are currently making plans for their Boxer puppy, who will hopefully arrive very soon.

Sam and Stefano will be joined in the coming months by two Board-certified Diplomate Surgeons to complete our Surgery Service for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for taking the time to read about our Surgery Service, and stay tuned for the final instalment of our service blogs.

Take care,

The Ralph Team

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