Postoperative Complications and Survival after Enterolith Removal from the Ascending or Descending Colon in Horses

Abstract

Incidence of postoperative complications and survival are not affected by the site of enterolith obstruction in the colon.

Surgical lesions of the small colon and post operative survival in aUKhospital population

“…Despite the reported difficulties associated with surgery involving the small colon, previous reports on short‐term survival have been favourable, with survival rates to hospital discharge ranging from 84–95% . This compares to 91% survival to discharge in horses that recovered following anaesthesia in the present study.…”

“…Long‐term survival to 6 months post operatively has been reported to be 90 and 93% in 2 previous studies , with survival to one year reported at 75, 94 and 85%, respectively in 3 others . In the present study, 90.4% of horses discharged from the hospital were still alive one year post operatively.…”

“…Knowledge of factors that influence survival following surgical treatment of specific types of colic provide the clinician and owner with important evidence‐based information, which can be used to make informed decisions about ongoing management of these cases . Previous studies have reported percentage survival to hospital discharge (short‐term survival) of horses with small colon disease, along with limited information on long‐term survival . Various endpoints and definitions of long‐term survival have been used, making it difficult to make comparisons between studies, and survival analysis has not been undertaken.…”

Prevention of post operative complications following surgical treatment of equine colic: Current evidence

“…Its prevalence varies widely depending on the location and pathology of the primary gastrointestinal lesion and on the geographical location of horses. Diarrhoea is usually defined as passage of unformed faeces for more than 24 h or on 2 or more consecutive occasions following surgical treatment of colic. However, in many studies, case definition is poorly described.…”

“…Horses diagnosed with large intestinal lesions were significantly more likely to develop diarrhoea post operatively compared with other intestinal lesions . Diarrhoea has been reported to be a frequent complication following surgical correction of strangulating large colon volvulus (28–45%) , treatment of sand impaction of the large colon (46%) and following removal of large colon enteroliths (20%) . Horses treated surgically for small colon diseases were shown in one study to be 17 times more likely to develop diarrhoea post operatively compared with other surgical lesions , with the prevalence of diarrhoea ranging from 11% to 70% .…”