Nutritional and clinicopathological effects of post operative parenteral nutrition following small intestinal resection and anastomosis in the mature horse

• Published in: Equine veterinary journal 2004-07, Vol.36 (5), p.390-396
• Main Authors: Durham, A.E, Phillips, T.J, Walmsley, J.P, Newton, J.R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: adverse effects; albumins; Anastomosis, Surgical - veterinary; Animals; bilirubin; blood serum; clinical pathology; colic; Colic - surgery; Colic - therapy; Colic - veterinary; energy balance; Female; glucose; horse; Horse Diseases - surgery; Horse Diseases - therapy; Horses; insulin; Intestine, Small - surgery; Male; nutrient requirements; Nutritional Requirements; Nutritional Status; parenteral feeding; Parenteral Nutrition; Postoperative Care - methods; Postoperative Care - veterinary; resection; starvation; surgery; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; triacylglycerols; urea
• ISSN: 0425-1644; 2042-3306
• DOI: 10.2746/0425164044868369

Reasons for performing study: There is an absence of data describing the nutritional requirements and nutritional status of horses following surgery for colic; furthermore, the potential effect of parenteral nutrition (PN) on improving nutritional status in such cases is unknown. Hypothesis: Post operative colic cases suffer from a potentially detrimental negative energy balance and the PN formulation developed in this study would lead to clinicopathologically detectable improvements in the subjects' nutritional status. Methods: Several clinicopathological variables, some known to be associated with nutritional status, were compared in 2 groups of horses in the post operative period following colic surgery; Group N (n = 15) were treated with PN and Group C (n = 15) were starved routinely. Results: Group N had significantly lower serum concentrations of triglycerides, total bilirubin, albumin and urea and significantly higher serum concentrations of glucose and insulin compared with Group C in the post operative period. Conclusions: The control group of horses demonstrated significant clinicopathological evidence of starvation and the described PN protocol resulted in a demonstrably improved nutritional status in the treated horses. Potential relevance: Further study is required to investigate clinical benefits and possible harmful side effects of post operative parenteral nutrition before the technique can be advocated for widespread use in practice.