The most common causes of gastrointestinal colic at an equine referral hospital in South Africa were determined following retrieval of the medical records of horses admitted during a 10-year study period. The study included 935 horses of which 28 % were admitted after hours. Most horses were Thoroughbreds (54 %), male (57 %), with a mean age of 8.2 years and originated from the Gauteng Province (81 %). Heart rate (98 %), mucous membrane colour (95 %) and auscultation of the abdomen (91 %) were the clinical data commonly obtained at admission. Packed cell volume, total serum protein and white cell count were recorded in 78 %, 75 % and 44 % of horses respectively. Transrectal palpation (93 %), nasogastric intubation (84 %), intravenous catheterisation (74 %) and abdominocentesis (53 %) were the most frequently performed procedures. Medical intervention was performed in 558 horses (60 %). The common causes of medical colic were impactions (39 %), tympany (7 %) and displacement of the large colon (6 %). An exploratory laparotomy was performed in 331 horses (36 %). The common causes of surgical colic were displacement (29 %), impaction (22 %) and small intestinal strangulating lesions (18 %). Death occurred in 3 % of horses, while euthanasia before medical intervention was performed in 4 %. Overall, medical intervention was successful in 93 % of horses and 67 % in horses managed surgically. In conclusion, 55 % of all the equine admissions responded to medical intervention and the recovery rate for horses receiving both medical and surgical intervention was comparable to that reported in other studies

In recent years the analysis of urinary enzymes has attracted interest as a possible aid to the diagnosis of renal disease. We have produced renal ischaemia of varying duration in dogs and then studied the activity of different enzymes in the urine. In spite of the fact that the damage to the kidney was so small as to produce only a slight or moderate effect on creatinine clearance and inulin and PAH extraction, we observed in the lirst few hours following ischaemia a very marked increase in the outflow of leucineaminopeptidase (LAP), lysozyme (muramidase) and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH). The increased outflow of LAP was rapidly reduced to normal, whereas the raised values of LDH and lysozyme were observed for a longer period, 10 days to one month. After renal ischaemia LDH 5 was raised in the urine and also, for a short period immediately after, in the renal vein, indicating that this fraction in our experiments arose from damaged kidney cells. It is concluded that studies of urinary enzymes may be of greater value than the conventional renal function tests in the early diagnosis of acute renal disorders. Scand J Urol Nephrol2Scand J Urol Nephrol Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by University of Otago on 12/26/14For personal use only.