As DR. Provet promises to help and support all veterinary medicine students, this article will address frequent questions and their answers in animal surgery.
Q1: What are the procedures of equine general anesthesia?
Horses usually need special care for anesthesia and surgery from the moment of anesthesia till they recover and can stand back up to avoid any expected risk due to their large size and athletic ability.
The procedures for anesthetizing the horse include:
Clip a small area of hair on the neck.
Place catheter in the jugular vein for IV fluids administration.
Kindly sedate the horse and slowly take it to a padded stall for induction of anesthesia.
Use a swing gate to ease it to the ground.
Carefully place a tube into the trachea for oxygen and anesthetic gas administration.
Accurately monitor the horse using blood pressure, ECG, pulse oximeter, capnograph, and blood gas analysis.
Allocate a padded stall for recovery.
Q2: What are the complications of general anesthesia in horses, and how to manage each risk?
Only 1 / 1000 anesthetized horses surfers from serious complications even with high care, including:
Recovery problems, such as incoordination, Stumbling, and falling may cause:
Lacerations.
Abrasions.
Joint injuries.
Fractured bones (rarely).
This risk can be avoided through:
Good observation of the horse until perfect standing.
Providing sedation and rope assistance as needed.
Ensuring the padded recovery stalls.
Paralysis, especially in young draft horses.
It can be controlled through:
Support the horse's blood pressure.
Minimize downtime.
Ensure good paddling.
Nerve Damage (Neuropathy)
The horse with nerve damage cannot stand on the affected limb.
The recovery or nerve problems may take weeks to months.
This risk is controlled through:
Proper positioning.
Using a thick pad of high-density foam in both surgery and recovery.
Myopathy
The heavily muscled, cramped, and recently exercised horses are more susceptible to the risk of muscle damage during surgery
Management of this risk includes:
Proper positioning.
Blood pressure support.
Thick pads of high-density foam.
Cardiovascular complications
They are characterized by cooling of the skin, cyanosis of the mucous membranes, rapid and weak pulsation along with sweating, and depression.
This risk can be avoided and controlled through:
Use of pre-anesthetic and anesthetic agents to minimize the circulatory effects.
Injection of electrolyte before anesthesia.
There are some other rare complications, including:
Allergic reaction.
Laryngeal paralysis.
Airway obstruction,
pulmonary edema.
Aspiration pneumonia and sudden death.
The most susceptible horses for these complications are:
Draft breeds.
Pregnant and foaling.
Airway surgery.
Heavily muscled horses.
Colic surgery.
Fit athletes.
Q3: What are the indications of excretory urography?
Excretory urography (Intravenous pyelography) is contrast radiography used to outline the urinary system.
Its basis is the kidney capacity to concentrate and excrete organic iodinated compounds.
Indications of I/v pyelography
Abnormal renal size, shape, and location.
Renal or ureteral masses.
Hydronephrosis.
Renal or ureteral calculi.
Rupture of kidney or ureter.
Ectopic ureter.
Urethrocele.
Congenital anomalies of the kidney and ureter.
Renal ectopia and renal or ureteral duplication.
Sublumbar tumor, prostatic masses.
Q4: How to surgically treat an abscess in a horse?
Abscesses in horses are localized suppurative inflammation, mainly present in the parotid region and intermandibular space.
The surgical treatment of the abscesses in the horse is applied through 3 main steps, including:
- Maturation.
- Evacuation.
- Dressing.
Maturation step
The abscesses should be ripped by using warm water, ichthyol ointment, or blisters.
Evacuation step
The ripped abscess should be evacuated by:
Opening the abscess by scalpel.
The incision is made in the most lower part of the abscess or from the middle to the lower part.
The counter opening can be also made to facilitate pus drainage.
Dressing step
The cavity should be examined to ensure the absence of any foreign bodies, then:
Wash the abscess with an antiseptic solution such as hydrogen peroxide, then dry with gauze.
Touch the cavity with a tincture of iodine.
Drain in the form of a piece of sterile gauze introduced inside the cavity.
This drain should be changed every 24 h. Till healthy granulation tissues fill the gap.
Q5:What are the characters of the optimal local anesthetic agents? And give examples for local anesthetics.
The desirable characters of local anesthetic agents include:
Good penetrating quality in body tissues.
High potency to allow using low concentrations.
Rapid onset.
Long duration of action.
Low systemic toxicity.
No irritation of nerves and other body tissues.
Reversible action.
Available in sterile solutions.
Examples of local anesthetics are:
Cocaine hydrochloride: (2-4%aqueous solution).
Prilocaine hydrochloride.
Lignocaine hydrochloride, 1- 2%.
Ethyl chloride.
Prilocaine.
Cinchocaine.
Amethocaine.
Bupivacaine.
Mepivacaine.
Q 6: What are the clinical symptoms and the prognosis of animal bone fractures?
When the animal is fractured, there are some typical clinical signs, including:
Pain.
It's very evident and severe, increased either by active or passive movement of the fractured bone.
Inability to bear weight.
Local tenderness at the seat of the fracture.
Local swelling.
It occurs due to hemorrhage and edema which represent the first line of treatment (fixation).
Deformity
it's a change in the shape and position of the affected part.
It depends mainly on the extravasation of the blood, inflammatory changes in the fractured part, and displacement of the fragment.
Abnormal mobility of the affected animal.
Crepitus:
It's the grating sound produced by the two ends of the bone being rubbed against each other on movement.
General symptoms, including loss of function, a rise in body temperature, albuminuria, and lipuria.
Prognosis of animal bone fracture
Bone healing differs from animal to animals according to:
Type of fracture
simple fraction usually heals faster than the compound one.
Soft tissues damage.
Age of the animal
The younger animal is more favorable than the elder one.
The docility of the affected
The docile animal is favorable as it has little movement.
Type and temperament of the animal
As the complete fractures in large animals are advisable to go to slaughter (bovine) or contamination (equine).
The prognosis in small animals is favorable.
Onset of treatment
The treatment should start immediately for a good prognosis.
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