Survival rates and post-operative complications after equine colic surgery.

The research article is a retrospective analysis looking into survival rates and post-operative complications in 74 horses that underwent colic surgery. It identifies correlations between certain pre-operative factors and short-term survival, alongside documenting further episodes of colic.

Study Overview

• The study extensively analyzed 74 cases in which horses underwent surgery for colic to draw conclusions about short and long-term survival rates, as well as the incidence of post-surgical complications.
• The cases consisted of two broad categories: horses with colic related to small intestinal lesions (28 cases) and those with colic linked to large intestinal lesions (46 cases).

Prognostic Factors

• An important finding of the study was the inverse relationship between pre-operative packed cell volume and heart rate with short-term survival.
• This suggests that the higher the horse’s heart rate and the lower its packed cell volume before surgery, the shorter its post-operative survival is likely to be.

Post-operative Outcomes

• Out of all the cases, 34% (25 horses) recovered from the surgery and were discharged.

Long-term Survival and Rate of Recurrence

• For 18 of the discharged horses whose further medical histories were available, six experienced one or more recurrences of colic post-surgery.
• Out of these, five came to a fatal end either by natural death or euthanasia due to further colic.
• The remaining 12 horses continued to stay free from colic recurrence for a period longer than six months.