Laparoscopic-assisted cystotomy and cystostomy for treatment of cystic calculus in a gelding.

The research article discusses the use of laparoscopic-assisted surgical methods to treat bladder stone disease in a twelve-year-old Appaloosa gelding horse.

Methods and Procedure

• The central technique used in this research was laparoscopic surgery which is a type of minimally invasive surgery using smaller incisions than traditional surgery.
• An instrument called a laparoscope, equipped with a light and camera, helped the surgeons to locate and hold the horse’s bladder.
• The bladder was then brought outside through an expanded instrument portal. This process is known as cystotomy, performed to remove the bladder calculus, or stone.
• During the process, the bladder stone broke into numerous smaller fragments.

Inguinal Cystostomy

• To prevent these fragments from blocking the urethra and to aid in their removal, the researchers performed an inguinal cystostomy.
• In this procedure, the seromuscular layer of the bladder, the thick tissue around the bladder, was securely stitched to the abdominal fascia, the layer of tissue under the skin.
• Then, the margins of the bladder mucosa, the innermost lining of the bladder, were stitched to the skin.

Results and Conclusions

• Two years after the surgery, the gelding was found to be in good health, with only a mild case of urine scald, which is skin irritation caused by leakage of urine, on the left, lower side of the abdomen.
• Conclusively, the research proved successful in using a laparoscopic-assisted approach to cystotomy for removal of bladder stones in the equine patient.
• Moreover, the article’s authors credited the method of inguinal cystostomy for the successful elimination of the stone fragments, thus avoiding any risk of blockage in the horse’s urethra.