Application of a laparoscopic technique for vasectomy in standing horses

Abstract

This report describes a technique for standing laparoscopic vasectomy in stallions through a prospective descriptive study. A preliminary study was carried out with two experimental intact male horses and subsequently the procedure was performed in two clinical cases. These horse owners want to keep their animals in the most possible natural way, preserving its stallion behaviour in a herd without generating offspring. The horses were sedated and restrained in stocks and laparoscopic vasectomy was performed using three portal sites in both paralumbar fossae recording surgical times. A 4-cm segment of each ductus deferens (DD) was occluded with laparoscopic vessel sealing devices and subsequently excised. Semen collection was performed using an artificial vagina before the laparoscopic procedure and at 15 and 60 days postoperatively. Sexual behaviour and spermiogram were analysed. Two months after vasectomy, control laparoscopy was performed in experimental horses to assess the surgical site. Bilateral vasectomy could be performed without intraoperative complications in a mean surgical time of 20 min per DD. Success of the procedure was confirmed in all cases by azoospermic ejaculates 60 days after vasectomy. This is the first time that the technique for laparoscopic vasectomy is described in horses.

Laparoscopically Assisted Percutaneous Inguinal Ring Closure for Resolution of Inguinal/Scrotal Hernias in Rams: Cadaveric Study and Three Cases Report

“…Six cadavers of adult rams of Rasa Aragonesa breed without signs or history of IH or testicular abnormalities were used, making a total of n = 12 IIRs to test the LAPS technique. The number of animals was based on previous studies describing the development of laparoscopic techniques [13,14].…”