Short-Term Outcomes of Abdominal Surgeries Performed with Epidural Anaesthesia in Italian Calves

Abstract

Abdominal surgery is widely described for several diseases in cattle. While in adults surgical procedures are generally performed in standing or in sternal recumbency, lateral or dorsal recumbency is preferred in calves. General anaesthesia is associated with several side effects, and epidural anaesthesia (EA) is a valid alternative anaesthetic protocol for several surgical approaches. Previous studies have already been published about abdominal surgery in calves for several diseases, but they are not focused on short-term outcomes. Therefore, there is a need to report a case series for calves that have undergone exploratory laparotomy under EA. General anaesthesia is limited in cattle due to its association with several complications, such as ruminal stasis, regurgitation and tympany, and alternative protocols need to be used. The aim of this study is to describe the surgical features and short-term outcomes of elective and emergency laparotomies in calves under EA. In more complex or longer-lasting surgery, with a median duration of 80 min, intravenous administration of xylazine was necessary. Short-term survival (defined as survival until discharge from the hospital) rate was 90.1%. The EA was sufficient to ensure adequate analgesia in most surgeries. This type of anaesthesia is easy to administer, with limited side effects. The results of this study support surgeons in decision-making in the event of pathologies requiring abdominal surgery.

Keywords: abdominal surgery; calf; epidural anaesthesia; laparotomy; local anaesthesia.