Surgical Time for Laparoscopic Ovariectomy in Adult and Prepubertal Dogs

Abstract

Two-portal laparoscopic ovariectomy (LOVE) was performed in adult (n=23) and prepubertal dogs (n=23) to compare surgical time and to evaluate the effect of age, body weight (BW), body condition score (BCS), ovarian pedicle fat score (OPFS) and intraoperative surgical complications on surgical time. Three classes of BCS were considered: BCS 1-2=lean; BCS 3=ideal; BCS 4-5=overweight. All surgeries were performed by the same surgeon. OPF was scored and was considered negative or positive. Intraoperative complications were recorded. Total surgical time was recorded as time from the first skin incision to placement of the last portal closure suture. The surgical procedure was divided into 7 different stages and the time for each stage was recorded. Data are reported as mean±SEM. Differences in the duration of defined surgical stages between groups were evaluated by age, BW, OPFS and intraoperative complications. One-way analysis of variance was used to evaluate the effect of BCS. No major complications were observed. Five and 4 minor complications were observed in adult and prepubertal dogs, respectively. Total surgical time was not different (p>0.05) between adult (20.63±0.60 min) and prepubertal (21.48±1.75 min) dogs. BCS, BW and OPF did not affect total surgical time (p>0.05). Intraoperative complications prolonged surgical times (25.20±2.33 min vs 20.04±0.93 min). Time from first skin incision to insertion of first trocar was shorter (p