This Method of castration is very easy to use. Although I was very skeptic in the beginning about it’s safety today I am very pleased with the safety, time and cleanness that it provides. My three “T”eees for surgery are Trauma, Trash and Time, It goes by all three.

I still have the emasculator always out, just in case there in a need for it, for instance a Cryptorchid castration that did not seam to be one at first, so I always have it ready.

At first I tried to move the two edges closer with some towel clamps. I had them on while I sutures the lip that also had a fair cut, right through the side of it. That done with I dedicated all my attention and skill as a surgeon ti the facial cut. I quickly found out that there is not enough skin to suture.

A tension suture was elected and revaluation in 18 hours was what seemed to be the only option. At the base of the tention sutures (U shaped, Single interrupted sutures) an small piece of  an IV set line was placed, not to put too much stress on the skin edges so there Will be no necrosis due to ischemia of the blood supply. Towel claps go a long way when trying to suture a place that has a lot of tention.

After 18 hours there was already laying down of fibrin. horizontal tention relieving incisions were made, below and above the suture line. At this time the tention sutures were removed and again using the force of the towel claps the skin edges came together nicely. A staple gun was used to get a very precise suture line and U shaped Single interrupted sutures were put in with the added IV set pieces to minimize the tention on the edges of the suture line.

The result was very satisfying. This all was possible for the use of a lot of Carbocaine, a small amount can go a long way.

Barak Amram DVM

This is a filly that got hurt from a fence while trying to flee from her owner who was trying to catch his 2-yo filly that has never been handled. There is a lesson to be learned here…

The pole from the fence went through all of her superficial ad deep muscles in the flank area and chipped a piece of her transverse process of two lumbar vertebrae. Through the incision palpation of the intestines, uterus and ovaries was possible. A 7- 10 inch hole was palpated. On palpation of the wound and the internal organs, no damage was noted to the viscera and other organs in the abdominal cavity.

On the first examination the wound was very contaminated, so it was decided not to close the wound. Debridement and primary closure was made, with intention of reassessing the wound in three days time. IV fluid therapy and antibiotics were administered at this time. IV and IM antibiotics were given daily for a period of 10 days.

Remarkably the filly remained alert and responsive. No other major abnormalities were noted except for the great discomfort that the wound was causing her. Her heart rate was mildly high (56 p/m) and a slight fever was taken at the time (38.8c).

A week after the initial treatment, granulation tissue and contraction of the space that was left open inside the wound led to closure of more than 65% of the space left from the trauma.

The wound was bandaged every three days (for economical reasons, hospitalizing her was not an option). The space was packed with gauze soaked in saline and antibiotics.

We are still far from the end but it looks promising. Amazing what the body can heal with just the help of fighting infection and stabilizing the animal initially. Contraction of the musculature did most of the primary closure of the dead space left after the injury. Granulation tissue will fill in the rest, from inside out.

Very interesting.

Laser surgery is also incorporated with endoscopy and allows to reach inaccessible areas as the nasal cavities and the nasopharynx.

The use of laser allows better healing, faster recovery and a less painful procedure inra-operatively and in the post-operative period.

Laser surgery ablates (vaporize) tissue into smoke and steam. There is less bleeding inra-operatively and post-operatively due to the heat produced by the laser beam.

Laser technology was especially warranted for this 30 yo mare that has been suffering form  bilateral tumor growths in the frontal nasal cavities which have been obstructing air flow and causing abnormal turbulence in the nasal cavity, not allowing her to ventilate her lungs adequately.

This procedure has earned her more precious time with her owner.

A piece of small intestine can become trapped through the epiploic foramen entrapment. The blood supply to this part of the intestine is immediately occluded. The intestine becomes trapped and surgery is the only available treatment. In a short amount of time (hours) the horse can enter a irreversible shock state so the veterinarian needs to asses the pain level and the clinical signs to refer for surgical intervention in the early stages. When caught at an early stage there is a 69% success rate for discharge from the hospital.

The most common internal hernia that causes colic in the horse.

Associated to cribbing and stabling the horse a month previous to the incident.

This is a 5 year old standardbred who is still racing. Although the fetlock joint is very bad, it has become chronic and is enabling the horse to race. He is defiantly at the end of his racing career.
The horse has been kept racing thanks to frequent shock wave therapy.

The optimal treatment is using laser technology because it causes tissue to evaporate and allows a lower percentage of granulation tissue to fill the lesion.

This horse had an ulcer on the soft palate that was displaced as well (DDSP). The ulcer was due to the permanent displacement of the soft palate and the abnormal air flow on the tip of the palate.

Epiglottic entrapment is when the aryepiglottic fold completely envelops the apex and lateral margins of the epiglottis. The difference with DDSP is when the soft palate moves dorsal to the epiglottis.

Treatment:
Transoral axial division using a curved bistoury. This is simply a hook bistoury that is inserted in the other nostril to where the endoscope is (usually the left nostril for that the endoscope should be in the right one, for safety reasons). the mucosa is cut by two or three swings of the bistoury. You can see the hook n one of the pictures. Another way to preform this procedure is by using a laser.

Surgery was elected since the pony is very well behaved and the family was willing to try anything to get him back to his usual self for all the kids who wanted to ride him again. The main reason for the formation of scar tissue in this area is usually due to trauma but another common reason may be I.M. Injections.

Treatment: resection of scar tissue. A drain was let in for a 36 h. post surgery for that there was substantial amount of bleeding during surgery. One dose Aminocaproic acid was given after surgery. Bleeding had continued for several hours after the operation.

The pony did very well. His gait abnormality had almost totally disappeared when was presented a month after the surgery. Very successful!