Ileocecal intussusception in horses: 26 cases (1981-1988)

Abstract

Summary The case records of 26 horses with ileocecal intussusception over a 7-year period were reviewed to determine clinical features of the disease and response to treatment. The median age of horses with ileocecal intussusception was 1 year and ranged from 2 weeks to 19 years. There was no apparent gender or breed predisposition to this disease. An acute form of ileocecal intussusception was diagnosed in 19 horses with signs of moderate to severe abdominal pain of:$ 24 hours' duration, and a chronic form was diagnosed in 7 horses with signs of intermittent, mild to moderate abdominal pain of more than 3 days' duration. Horses with chronic ileocecal intussusception had a history of weight loss or failure to gain weight, slow growth, poor appetite, low-grade pyrexia, and postprandial signs of abdominal pain. At surgery, the involved segments of intestine (intussusceptum and intussuscipiens) in chronic cases were 2 to 10 cm long, and the ileum and much of the distal portion of the jejunum were flaccid, dilated, and thick walled. In the acute cases, the length of involved intestine ranged from 6 to 457 cm. Whereas only 1 of 7 chronic intussusceptions (14%) could be reduced, 9 of 19 (47%) acute intussusceptions were reducible. Surgical treatment included resection and jejunocecostomy (6 horses), partial resection through a cecotomy and a side-to-side jejunocecostomy (2 horses), and a side-to-side ileocecostomy or jejunocecostomy without resection (12 horses, 7 of which had chronic intussusception). Six horses with acute intussusception were euthanatized before or during surgery. Four horses with acute intussusception died or were euthanatized between 2 and 9 months after surgery, 1 from unknown causes, 2 from impaction at the anastomosis, and 1 from small-intestinal strangulation. Two horses were lost to long-term follow-up. Horses with chronic intussusception survived, but some of these horses had a slow postoperative recovery.