Technique-associated outcomes in horses following large colon resection.

This research compares the survival rates and complications in horses that undergo two different types of surgery for large colon resection due to gastrointestinal disease. The findings show no significant difference in either short-term or long-term survival outcomes between the two surgical methods: sutured end-to-end and stapled functional end-to-end colon resection.

Study Methodology

• The study is retrospective in nature and analyzed data from medical records of 26 client-owned horses treated for gastrointestinal disease.
• These horses underwent large colon resection between 2003 and 2016, with 14 of them having sutured end-to-end and 12 with stapled functional end-to-end anastomoses.
• The researchers focused on different factors such as type of treatment, survival until discharge from the hospital, surgical time, hospitalization period, and underlying reason for performing the colectomy—either as a preventative measure or for salvage.
• To evaluate continuous variables, the team used Mann-Whitney tests, while Fisher’s exact testing was used to compare survival to hospital discharge.
• They constructed Kaplan-Meier survival curves to compare survival time, carrying out log-rank curve comparison testing for the same.

Key Findings

• The average age of the horses undergoing colectomy was 13 years.
• The average surgical time across all operations was 169 minutes and the mean hospitalization time was 9 days.
• There was no difference in hospitalization time based on the type of anastomosis technique employed (P = .62).
• Of the 12 horses that underwent the stapled functional end-to-end anastomosis, 9 survived to hospital discharge. Similarly, 12 of the 14 horses that underwent sutured end-to-end anastomosis survived to hospital discharge. The difference here was found to be non-significant (P = .63).
• Furthermore, there was no significant difference in survival time when comparing the two anastomosis techniques (P = .35).

Conclusion

• Results show that there are comparable survival rates and postoperative complications between horses undergoing sutured end-to-end or stapled functional end-to-end anastomoses for large colon resection.
• The research ultimately suggests that the choice between these two surgical techniques can be largely based on surgeons’ preference or comfort, as both techniques are equally ineffective in significantly improving survival outcomes.