Food Animal Alimentary Surgery Flashcards
How are small ruminants properly restrained for surgery?
- sedation + restraint
- standing laparotomies
- dorsal recumbency + GA for ventral midline
surgeon’s preference and what’s available
How does reproductive tract surgery compare in small ruminants and cows?
- much easier to get an entire horn out of a doe compared to a cow
- can place a doe in a crutch and strap legs down for other surgeries
What are 3 options for restraint in cows getting laparotomies?
- standing in a chute
- ventral midline
- paramedian
sterility is often sacrificed due to the “OR” being in the field
What are the 4 surgical steps for laparotomies following restraint?
- determine location of incision
- prepare surgical site - anesthesia, surgical scrub
- determine length of incision needed depending on what is going through it (organs, surgeon’s arm)
- incise the 5 laters of skin
What are the 5 layers that are cut through in a flank laparotomy?
- SKIN - leather, thick (thinner in SR)
- external abdominal oblique - strong sheath, fibers run caudoventral (hands in pocket)
- internal abdominal oblique - no sheath (little holding power), fairly thick, fibers run cranioventral
- transverse abdominis - sheath, fibers dorsoventral so blunt dissection is easy and bloodless (+ avoids risk of cutting into peritoneum)
- peritoneum - sharp incision required, avoid tearing, air can be heard entering the vacuum between peritoneum and abdominal viscera
Muscle layers:
What is preferred for closing the 5 layers cut through in a flank laparotomy?
- SKIN - Ford interlocking with non-absorbable #3 (#2 for SR) –>Vetafil
- EAO - simple continuous #3 or #2, include IAO every 3-4 bites to close dead space –> chromic gut
- IAO - little holding power, 3-4 simple interrupted sutures
- TA/PERITONEUM - closed together in a simple continuous pattern
How is the needle of suture correctly held?
hold S-shaped needle in the middle + use hands instead of forceps to help force the needle through
What kind of suture is preferred for friable tissue?
monofilament
- multi-strand material will act as a saw
How are knots tied in food animal surgery?
extremely tight –> not as much worry with seroma or edema
How should laparotomy incisions be made? What should be done with bleeders?
grid - less bleeding, best for exploratories
only clamp if squirting out blood excessively
What causes free gas bloat? What are 5 examples?
anything decreasing rumen motility or impeding eructation
- diets that cause excessive gas production - high carbohydrates
- choke
- positional
- vagal
- hypocalcemia
Why should cattle with bloat be induced to salivate?
mucin is a normal component of ruminant saliva and it acts and an antifoaming agent
How is free gas bloat treated?
- stomach tube - move around to find pockets of gas
- trochar in emergencies - block paralumbar fossa with Lidocaine, use scalpel to cut through skin, screw in plaee
How are possible underlying causes of free gas bloat treated? What is considered for chronic cases?
- fluids with calcium
- laxatives and antacids - Carmilax (MgOH)
- mineral oil
- relieve choke
- long-term antibiotics to treat peritonitis or thoracic abscesses
transfaunation + surgery
What surgery is recommended in cases of chronic free gas bloat?
rumenostomy - cut a hole in the left paralumbar fossa and suture rumen to the skin
- takes about 2 months to heal
- fair prognosis for life, don’t tend to grow as well
- consider slaughter
What is hardware disease?
foreign body penetration through reticulum that can lead to peritonitis and pericarditis
- hardware migrates and causes abscesses
What is the most common cause of hardware disease? In what cattle is this most common?
ingestion of wires and nails present in total mixed rations, resulting in their deposition in the reticulum and puncture
adults (>8 y/o)
What is the classic sign of hardware disease? How is this diagnosed?
grunting and distended jugulars with washing machine-like heart sounds (fluid in pericardial sac)
grunt test - withers pinch, palpation caudal and to the left of the sternum –> grunts with rumen contractions
Which of the following indicates inflammation?
a. 4800 segmented neutrophils, 4700 lymphocytes
b. TP = 1.1
c. fibrinogen = 1600
d. bands = 0
A, B, C
What is the best side for performing an exploratory to diagnose hardware disease?
RIGHT - allows for thorough examination of the abdomen, but no access to rumen (can sweep under reticulum and feel adhesions)
- left side gives pooer exposure to abdomen, but allows for a rumenotomy (best for valuable stock for removal)
What causes grunts in cows?
- hardware disease
- peritonitis
- pericarditis
- pleuritis
How is a definitive diagnosis of hardware disease made?
a. CBC
b. radiographs
c. exploratory
C
How is harware disease treated?
- fluids
- antibiotics - tetracycline
- NSAIDs
- magnet, surgical removal, slaughter
How is a rumenotomy performed?
- incision in left paralumbar fossa as big as surgeon’s bicep
- incision into the upper part of the rumen
- tack rumen to skin in a simple continuous pattern
rumen fluid will drain out, recommend antibiotics + cleaning off the area
What is the prognosis of hardware disease like? How can it be controlled?
guarded –> can cause vagal indigestion
- magnets fed to bred heifers
- magnets in feed mixing equipment
- pick up wire, don’t use wire on hay
- don’t graze cattle where buildings were torn down
Hardware:
nail sticking out of reticulum
A cow is grunting with each respiration, the heart sounds like a washing machine, the jugulars are distended, and elbows are abducted. What is the most likely disease?
hardware disease - traumatic reticulpericarditis
Abomasum location:
RIGHT SIDE, 2 hands behind reticulum (which is behind the xiphoid)
LDA percussion:
How is an abomasopexy performed?
- enter the abdominal cavity through the paralumbar fossa on the side of the displacement
- place a whipstitch into the abomasum (leave 2-3 feet of suture) and push it back into the proper location
- stick the needle through the body wall
- repeat with another needle about 4 in caudal
- relieve gas and push the abomasum down to the right ventral body wall
- tie sutures together and cut off excess
- local peritonitis will cause an adhesion to develop to keep the abomasum into place
How is an omentopexy performed? What is used as a landmark?
- make an incision on the right flank
- relive the gas in the abomasum
- locate omentum and go behind by the kidneys and rumen to find the abomasum
- bring in needle and stick it into the abomasum at an angle to let the gas out
- sweep hand under to cup the DA and pull over
- tease the omentum caudally to find the SOW’S EAR within the omentum and suture a large amount into the first layer of closure (peritoneum/transverse abdominus)
Where is a paramedian incision placed when correcting a displaced abomasum? What needs to be avoided? What is required for this approach to work?
right of midline, proximal to the umbilicus
milk veins, which are hard to see in dorsal recumbency - especially large when lactating, marked off with chalk before surgery
displacement must be on the same side
Abomasopexy:
Omentopexy:
What suture is used for a pyloromentopexy? How is it properly done?
absorbable #3 suture –> simple inturrupted, simple continuous
suture in the pylorus should not go full thickness
What is the most common sign of intussusception? What else may be seen?
acute pain and colic –> r/o ulcers, spiral colon impaction
- abdomen distention bilaterally
- dehydration
- dark, bloody feces –> dry, pasty, scant
What are 4 options for diagnosing intussusception?
- small tymanic areas on the right
- rectal palpation - multiple loops of tightly distended small intestine on the right side of the abdomen filling the pelvic cavity (may not be felt in the jejunum)
- exploratory
- U/S - target sign
Intussusception:
What is bloody bowel syndrome? What are 2 possible etiologies? In what cattle is this most common?
hemorrhagic jejunal syndrome / hemorrhagic bowel syndrome
- bacteria - C. perfringens A
- fungi - Aspergillus fumigatus (moldy corn)
mature dairy cattle
HBS:
