The British Equine Veterinary Association has recently completed a study that investigated the long-term survival rates of horses which had undergone colic surgery related to small intestine strangulation. Drs. Meredith Rudnick, Thomas Denagamage and David Freeman looked specifically at age, disease and type of surgery to see how these conditions affected long-range outcomes.
The team gathered medical records and post-operative data for 89 horses that had small intestine strangulation and survival times were noted. They then analyzed the data for the three variables. They found that while the variables did not affect the horse's short-term survival, they did affect the long-term outcome of the case.
Horses which had not had a small intestine resection had significantly longer survival times than horses that had been resected (120 months vs. 76.8 months).
Horses older than 16 had shorter median survival times than younger horses (72 months vs. 121.7 months).
Horses with strangulating lipomas did not survive as long as horses with other diseases (79.8 months vs. 161.9 months).
The team found that age and resection had the most significant impact on survival time. They emphasized the need for early detection and intervention of small intestine strangulation to reduce the need for resection.
Read the full article here.
Read more at EquiManagement.
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