General anesthesia does not induce ultrasonographic changes in the pleura of healthy adult horses anesthetized for elective magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To compare thoracic ultrasonographic findings in healthy horses before and after general anesthesia for elective MRI utilizing a recently developed ultrasonographic scoring system to aid clinicians in the early identification of pneumonia following anesthesia. ANIMALS 13 adult horses > 3 years of age. PROCEDURES Prior to anesthesia, horses underwent a thorough physical examination, CBC, thoracic radiography, and thoracic ultrasonography. Horses were then anesthetized for elective MRI, and thoracic ultrasonography was repeated within 3 hours after recovery. Thoracic ultrasonographic findings were scored utilizing a recently developed scoring system, and scores were compared before and after anesthesia. RESULTS There was no significant difference identified in total thoracic ultrasonography score before and after anesthesia, and there was no correlation between thoracic ultrasonography score following anesthesia and the body weight of the horse, the time recumbent, and the dependent side. CLINICAL RELEVANCE In healthy horses undergoing anesthesia for elective imaging, there was no significant change in thoracic ultrasonographic findings 3 hours after recovery from anesthesia. These data can aid clinicians in determining the clinical significance of ultrasonographic changes in the lung in the immediate postanesthetic period.

Incidence and risk factors for complications associated with equine general anaesthesia for elective magnetic resonance imaging

“…One detected no changes after MRI whereas the second found an increase in lung ultrasound score after anaesthesia was associated with abnormal cardiorespiratory values under anaesthesia. 33,34 While these studies did not provide sufficient follow-up or perform diagnostics to determine whether their findings resulted in clinically relevant pneumonia, the observations of Ribonnet et al are consistent with our finding that pyrexia was associated with decreased oxygen saturation. 33 Three cases of pneumonia in our population were also diagnosed based on sonographic evaluation alone, which could have resulted in cases of atelectasis or chronic pulmonary disease being misclassified as pneumonia.…”