Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the normal location, wall thickness and motility of the right dorsal colon in adult ponies and miniature horses. The abdominal ultrasonography examination was performed in a study group consisting of 23 ponies and miniature horses and in a control group comprising ten Thoroughbred horses. The procedure was performed in unsedated standing animals. The location and the thickness of the right dorsal colonic wall was examined on the right side of the abdomen between the 10th and the 14th intercostal space. The contractility was recorded in the 12th intercostal space. A comparative analysis between the study group and control group was carried out using the Student’s t-test. Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient was used to calculate the correlation between the thickness of the colonic wall as well as the number of peristaltic movements and age, wither height and body mass of the animals. The right dorsal colon was identified in all the horses in the 12th intercostal space. In all the intercostal spaces the mean ± standard deviation (SD) wall thickness of the right dorsal colon was 0.27 ± 0.03 cm in the horses from the study group and 0.37 ± 0.03 cm in the control horses. The mean number of peristaltic contractions was 4.05 ± 1.07 per minute in the animals from the study group and 1.7 ± 0.46 contractions per minute in the control group. The values of the ultrasonographic wall thickness and peristaltic motility in small breed horses in the present study were different from the values obtained for large breed horses. The study also found that the right dorsal colon in small breed horses is physiologically located in the 12th intercostal space. This suggests that different reference values should be used in small horse breeds when performing an ultrasound examination.
Highlights
The equine large intestine is a highly specialized section of the digestive tract responsible for fibre digestion [1,2]
The right dorsal colon (RDC) was physiologically located as described in literature
The anatomic site of the RDC extended across five intercostal space (ICS) the exact range differed between individuals (Table 1)
Summary
The equine large intestine is a highly specialized section of the digestive tract responsible for fibre digestion [1,2]. The function, anatomic structure and ability to move within the abdominal cavity, predispose the large intestine to conditions that cause colic such as impaction, displacement, distention, torsion, sand accumulation [2,3,4,5,6,7]. The percutaneous abdominal ultrasound examination is useful and complements the rectal examination in animals with intestinal disease [11,12,13,14,15,16,17]. The method is non-invasive, fast, does not require highlyspecialized equipment and does not cause any side-effects It facilitates the abdominal cavity examination of non-cooperative animals in which a rectal examination cannot be performed [13,17]. The ultrasound examination reliability has been confirmed by several authors [18,19,20,21,22,23]
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