Ex vivo comparison of bursting strength of ventral median and right ventral paramedian celiotomies in horses.

The study compares the operational impact and endurance between two surgical procedures, ventral median (VM) and right ventral paramedian (RVP) celiotomies, in horses. The VM process displayed a greater resilience and did not fail at the sutures. It was observed that an increase in age and certain breed types (Quarter horses) negatively impacted the endurance.

Research Methodology

• This study was conducted on 12 horse cadavers and the procedure was carried out ex vivo. Cadavers were chosen to avoid any distress to live animals.
• A celiotomy, or incision into the abdominal cavity, was performed either as a ventral median (VM), a cut directly down the middle, or a right ventral paramedian (RVP), a cut positioned 5 centimeters to the side of the linea alba, the center line of the abdomen.
• The incisions were closed with a 1 section of USP 7 braided polydioxanone (7PD), a type of absorbable suture that holds wound edges together until enough healing has taken place to provide strength to the wound.
• A 200-litre polyurethane bladder was inserted into the horse’s abdomen, this bladder was then filled with compressed air until the point of construct failure. The aim was to compare bursting strength and failure mode between the two surgical techniques.
• The factors recorded were the kind of celiotomy, the cause of failure (whether the sutures failed or the abdominal wall gave way) and the location of failure if it happened (whether it was near or far from the point of incision). They also considered the age and breed of horse.
• Statistical tests were applied to evaluate the relationship between independent and dependent variables, which included a linear regression.

Research Findings

• The strength of the surgical construct found to decrease with increasing age of the horse, suggesting that younger horses are able to withstand this type of intervention better.
• Similarly, Quarter horse-type breeds were found to have weaker constructs compared to non-Quarter horse-type breeds, indicating potential breed-specific differences in tissue strength or healing capacity.
• However, when these factors were controlled for, Right Ventral Paramedian (RVP) celiotomies still had a lower bursting strength compared to Ventral Median (VM) celiotomies (P = .039).
• Notably, none of the incisions failed at the sutures, pointing to the effectiveness of 1 section of USP 7 braided polydioxanone (7PD) as a closure material.

Conclusions

• Overall, Ventral Median (VM) celiotomies display stronger resilience in terms of bursting strength, when compared to Right Ventral Paramedian (RVP) celiotomies, with age and breed being controlled.
• It further concludes that the bursting strength of celiotomies decrease with the increase in age and is weaker among Quarter horse-type breeds as compared to non-Quarter horse-type breeds.