Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Horse with small intestine trapped in epiploic foramen causing colic
By Hammock, P D et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·1999·Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Parietal hernia of the small intestine into the epiploic foramen of a horse.
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
A 12-year-old Quarter Horse gelding was brought in for colic that lasted 12 hours and didn't improve with initial treatment. After further examination and monitoring, the vet decided to perform surgery when the horse continued to show signs of pain and had an increased heart rate. During the surgery, they discovered a part of the small intestine was trapped in an unusual way, creating a parietal hernia. The vet was able to free the entrapped intestine without removing any part of it, and the horse made a full recovery.
People also search for: horse colic symptoms · Quarter Horse colic treatment · horse surgery recovery time
Abstract
A 12-year old 573-kg (1,261-lb) Quarter Horse gelding was referred with colic of 12 hours' duration and with poor response to medical treatment. On the basis of physical and laboratory findings, a pelvic flexure impaction was suspected. The horse was treated medically. Because signs of mild abdominal pain persisted and the heart rate had increased, an exploratory celiotomy was performed 30 hours after signs of colic were first noticed. At surgery, the ileum was found partially entrapped within the epiploic foramen, in a left-to-right direction, to form a parietal hernia. The entrapped intestinal segment was reduced but not resected, and the horse recovered fully. In retrospect, the delay before surgery in this horse was tolerated because this was a parietal hernia and, therefore, did not cause complete ileal obstruction. This horse had an unusual form of small-intestinal strangulation in the epiploic foramen that might not cause sufficient obstruction initially to allow early detection.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10319178/