Perioperative Outcome in Dogs Undergoing Emergency Abdominal Surgery: A Retrospective Study on 82 Cases (2018–2020)

• Published in: Veterinary sciences Vol. 8; no. 10; p. 209
• Main Authors: Fages, Aida, Soler, Carme, Fernández-Salesa, Nuria, Conte, Giuseppe, Degani, Massimiliano, Briganti, Angela
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 28.09.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Abdomen; Abdominal surgery; Acidosis; Anesthesia; Blood pressure; Cardiac arrhythmia; Comorbidity; Dogs; emergency; Emergency medical care; Foreign bodies; General Veterinary; Heart rate; Hypotension; Hypothermia; Laboratories; Lactic acid; laparotomy; Leukopenia; Life sciences; Medical records; Medicine; Morbidity; Mortality; Médecine vétérinaire & santé animale; Overweight; perioperative complications; Peritonitis; Recovery (Medical); Sciences du vivant; Software; Surgery; Surgical outcomes; Tachycardia; Teaching hospitals; Thrombocytopenia; Veterinary (all); Veterinary medicine & animal health; United States > US
• ISSN: 2306-7381; 2306-7381
• DOI: 10.3390/vetsci8100209

Emergency abdominal surgery carries high morbidity and mortality rates in human medicine; however, there is less evidence characterising the outcome of these surgeries as a single group in dogs. The aim of the study was to characterise the clinical course, associated complications and outcome of dogs undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. A retrospective study was conducted. Dogs undergoing emergency laparotomy were included in the study. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify variables correlated with death and complications. Eighty-two dogs were included in the study. The most common reason for surgery was a gastrointestinal foreign body. Overall, the 15-day mortality rate was 20.7% (17/82). The median (range) length of hospitalisation was 3 (0.5–15) days. Of the 82 patients, 24 (29.3%) developed major complications and 66 (80.5%) developed minor complications. Perioperative factors significantly associated with death included tachycardia (p < 0.001), hypothermia (p < 0.001), lactate acidosis (p < 0.001), shock index > 1 (p < 0.001), leukopenia (p < 0.001) and thrombocytopenia (p < 0.001) at admission, as well as intraoperative hypotension (p < 0.001) and perioperative use of blood products (p < 0.001). The results of this study suggest that mortality and morbidity rates after emergency abdominal surgery in dogs are high.