Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Emergency surgery after hours and risks for dogs and cats
By McConkey, Marina J et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary emergency and critical care (San Antonio, Tex. : 2001)·2021·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Associations between surgical start time (regular vs after hours) and morbidity and mortality during hospitalization in dogs and cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study looked at 474 dogs and 66 cats that needed emergency surgery to see if having the surgery after regular hours affected their recovery. For dogs, there was no difference in recovery or risk of death whether the surgery was done at night or during the day. However, for cats, those that had surgery after hours were less likely to experience complications compared to those treated during regular hours. This suggests that timing may play a role in how well cats recover from emergency surgeries.
People also search for: dog emergency surgery recovery · cat surgery after hours · risks of emergency surgery for pets
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between after-hours (ie, nights and weekends) emergency general surgery and morbidity or mortality in dogs and cats during hospitalization. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study from September 1, 2013 to May 31, 2017. SETTING: University teaching hospital. ANIMALS: Four hundred seventy-four dogs and 66 cats that underwent emergency general surgery (gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, urogenital, soft tissue traumatic injury, splenectomy/excision of bleeding abdominal tumor, surgical revision, and negative exploratory categories) with the emergency surgery service. All patients were required to have complete medical records. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Study animals were grouped as exposed or not exposed to after-hours emergency surgery. They were further classified as either postoperatively dead or suffering morbidity (yes or no). Additional exposure factors (eg, age, sex, American Society of Anesthesiology [ASA] status) were investigated. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify and quantify any associations with mortality or morbidity. In dogs, exposure to after-hours emergency general surgery was not associated with mortality or morbidity. In dogs, both mortality and morbidity were associated with ASA status. In cats, mortality was not examined because the number of dead cats was small (n = 5). The odds of morbidity were 3.4 times lower (1/0.29) in cats having emergency surgery after hours, compared to cats admitted during regular hours (odds ratio [OR], 0.29; 95% Confidence Interval (CI), 0.09-0.93; P = 0.03). No other investigated exposure factors were associated with morbidity in study cats. CONCLUSIONS: After-hours emergency surgery in dogs was not associated with increased risk of mortality and morbidity at the study facility. Feline patients having emergency surgery during regular hospital hours had a higher risk of morbidity; further investigation of modifiable risk factors is warranted.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34330152/