Abstract
BackgroundIn horses undergoing celiotomy for acute gastrointestinal pain, identification of variables correlating with lesion severity and location, and survival provide veterinarians and owners with information that aids in making informed decisions regarding appropriate treatment. Muscle enzyme activity is often increased in horses undergoing celiotomy for acute gastrointestinal pain and it is not known if muscle enzyme activity increase is specific to lesion type or impacts prognosis for survival. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship of pre-operative increase in muscle enzyme activities with intestinal lesion characteristics, specifically lesion location (large versus small intestine) and whether it was strangulating versus nonstrangulating, and case survival in horses undergoing celiotomy for acute gastrointestinal pain.MethodsRecords of 241 horses undergoing exploratory laparotomy for colic were reviewed retrospectively. Evaluation of preoperative plasma aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatine kinase (CK), sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH), and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activities, fibrinogen and glucose concentrations, and hematocrit (HCT) and their association with gastrointestinal lesion characteristics and survival was performed.ResultsPre-operative increase in plasma CK and AST activity, and HCT and decrease in plasma bilirubin concentration were significantly associated with presence of lesions resulting in intestinal ischemia. Increase in plasma CK activity and HCT were significantly associated with a decreased probability of survival to hospital discharge. Plasma GGT and SDH activity, and glucose and fibrinogen concentration were not significantly associated with survival or severity of disease in multivariate analysis.ConclusionsPlasma muscle enyzme activity may be useful as a prognostic indicator in equine colic cases. Given that increases in plasma CK and AST activity were significantly associated with nonsurvival and the presence of intestinal ischemia, preoperative increase in these enzyme activities could assist in identification of disease severity and prognosis of horses undergoing celiotomy for acute gastrointestinal pain. Further study is indicated to elucidate the etiology of increased muscle enzyme activity in horses with surgical colic disease observed in this preliminary study.
Highlights
In horses undergoing celiotomy for acute gastrointestinal pain, identification of variables correlating with lesion severity and location, and survival provide veterinarians and owners with information that aids in making informed decisions regarding appropriate treatment
Given that increases in plasma creatine kinase (CK) and AST activity were significantly associated with nonsurvival and the presence of intestinal ischemia, preoperative increase in these enzyme activities could assist in identification of disease severity and prognosis of horses undergoing celiotomy for acute gastrointestinal pain
Further study is indicated to elucidate the etiology of increased muscle enzyme activity in horses with surgical colic disease observed in this preliminary study
Summary
In horses undergoing celiotomy for acute gastrointestinal pain, identification of variables correlating with lesion severity and location, and survival provide veterinarians and owners with information that aids in making informed decisions regarding appropriate treatment. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship of pre-operative increase in muscle enzyme activities with intestinal lesion characteristics, lesion location (large versus small intestine) and whether it was strangulating versus nonstrangulating, and case survival in horses undergoing celiotomy for acute gastrointestinal pain. Myonecrosis, confirmed histologically, has been reported in 3 horses with antemortem muscle enzyme elevation secondary to acute gastrointestinal disease [5] It is not known if muscle enzyme activity increase is specific to lesion type or impacts prognosis for survival. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relationship between pre-operative increase in muscle enzyme activities and other clinicopathologic parameters and intestinal lesion characteristics, lesion location (large versus small intestine) and whether it was strangulating versus nonstrangulating, as well as case survival in horses undergoing celiotomy for acute gastrointestinal pain. It was hypothesized that increased plasma CK and AST activity would be associated with increased severity of intestinal disease and decreased survival
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