VSR 421: Regional Veterinary Surgery (2+1)

COLIC IN HORSES

Definition

• Colic is defined as visceral abdominal pain due to spasmodic colic contraction  and is presented as acute, chronic or recurrent.

Etiology / risk factors

• Diet
  • Coarse roughage - impaction colic due to low digestability                
  • Grain overload - Colic and laminitis due to increased gas production leading to altered mobility and displacement of the bowel
• Enviornmental factor - Extreme summer or winter and confinement with out exercise.
• Parasites - ascarides , tapeworm,strongyles
• Cribbing results in aerophagia and negative pressure created will result in movement of the bowel in to potential space with in the lesser omental sac and entrapment of intestine in to the epiploic foramen.
• Pregnancy
  • Compression of the bowel by gravid uterus                  
  • After delivery, space occupied by the uterus will be filled with intestine.

Types of coilc

• pelvic flexure impaction
• spasmodic colic
• ileal impaction
• sand impaction
• enterolith
• large round or tape worms
• left dorsal displacement
• epiploic foramen entrapment
• mesenteric rent entrapment

Pathology of coloic

• This can be divided in to
  • simple obstruction,
  • strangulating obstruction and
  • nonstrangulating obstruction

Treatment

Medical colic

• Pain management
  • nasogastric intubation
  • decompression( enetrocentesis)
  • flunixin meglumin
  • alpha 2 agonists,  Xylazine and detomidine
  • opioids
  • spasmolytic agents
  • lidocaine as a prokinetic drug
• Surgical management
  • Under general anesthesia and dorsal recumbency through a midline laparotomy the correction is performed on the intesines and the abdominal incision is closed. Rough recovery from anesthesia is to be avoided.