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  Discussion on Research: Colic Surgery and Long term athletic ability
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DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jan 12, 2017 - 12:02 pm:

Many have questioned the decision of doing abdominal surgery based on a perceived loss of athletic ability after surgery. This is an encouraging report that suggests this is often not the case.
DrO

Acta Vet Scand. 2017 Jan 5;59(1):5.

Long-term follow-up on recovery, return to use and sporting activity: a retrospective study of 236 operated colic horses in Finland (2006-2012).

Immonen IA1, Karikoski N2, Mykkänen A2, Niemelä T2, Junnila J3, Tulamo RM2.

Author information:
1Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland. isa.immonen@fimnet.fi.
2Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
34 Pharma, 20520, Turku, Finland.

Abstract
BACKGROUND:

Surgical treatment of colic is expensive and complications may occur. Information on the prognosis and the use of the horse after surgery for colic is important for surgeons and owners. Current literature on return to athletic function after celiotomy is limited. The present study reviewed surgical cases of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Helsinki, Finland for 2006-2012. The aim was to follow the population of horses of different breeds for surgical findings, postsurgical complications, long-term recovery and prognosis. The findings and their influence on survival, return to previous or intended use and performance were assessed.
RESULTS:

Most of the operated horses (82.6%; 195/236) recovered from anesthesia and 74.9% (146/195) were discharged. The total follow-up time was 8 years and 10 months and the median survival time 79.2 months. Age of the horse, location of the abdominal lesion (small vs. large intestine), incidence of postoperative colic, surgical site infection, incisional hernia or convalescence time after surgery, did not significantly affect the probability of performing in the previous or intended discipline after the surgery. A majority of the discharged horses (83.7%) was able to perform in the previous or intended discipline and 78.5% regained their former or higher level of performance. Operated horses had 0.18 colic episodes per horse-year during the long-term follow-up. The incidence of colic was 20.0% within the first year after surgery. Horses operated for large intestinal colic were 3.3-fold more prone to suffer postoperative colic than horses operated for small intestinal colic. The majority of the owners (96.3%) were satisfied with the veterinary care and nearly all (98.5%) evaluated the recovery after the colic surgery to be satisfactory or above.
CONCLUSIONS:

If the horse survives to discharge, prognosis for long-term survival and return to previous level of sporting activity and performance was good after colic surgery in a population of horses of different breeds. None of the factors studied were found to decrease the probability of performing in the same or intended discipline after surgery. The majority of horses were able to return to their previous activity and perform satisfactorily for several years after surgery.
Member:
mrose

Posted on Thursday, Jan 12, 2017 - 7:19 pm:

Hi Dr. O. I can personally attest to colic surgery being successful. My show gelding, AJ, almost died early last spring from severe colic. Thankfully, his trainer found him right away and called the vet, who was able to sedate him enough to get him loaded into a trailer and hauled 20 mins to the clinic. I met them at the clinic, and even with heavy sedation, AJ was sweating profusely and shaking all over, wanting to go down. They prepped him for surgery on the way to the surgical room. Later the vet said if he had been another 10-15 mins we would have lost him. He had a lipoma that strangled two different parts of his intestines. The intestines formed a loop, and the neck of the lipoma looped around like the knot in a pretzel. We were lucky that we had a remarkably talented surgeon close by. Aj was in the hospital for a week, then under very careful care at his trainers. After a couple of months of hand walking, he was able to go back on the walker, and by August was started under light work. In Sept he and I had our first show, and he won the championship, and went on to win a National Championship in October.

I think it is very important not to waste time if the colic seems severe. Imo, too many people wait too long before contacting the vet. Also, the cause of the colic is a big factor imo on how successful surgery will be; and sometimes you won't know the cause until you open the horse up.

Surgery is expensive. We were lucky in that we had Colicare through Smartpak which covered much of the cost. There are other insurance programs out there. Without insurance, most clinics are happy to work out a payment plan.

Talking with the surgeon, I learned that actually age of the horse isn't much of a factor. Overall condition of the horse is more important.
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