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Nutritional and clinicopathological effects of post operative parenteral nutrition following small intestinal resection and anastomosis in the mature horse
Author(s) -
DURHAM A. E.,
PHILLIPS T. J.,
WALMSLEY J. P.,
NEWTON J. R.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
equine veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 2042-3306
pISSN - 0425-1644
DOI - 10.2746/0425164044868369
Subject(s) - parenteral nutrition , horse , anastomosis , medicine , intestinal resection , resection , surgical resection , gastroenterology , surgery , biology , paleontology
Summary 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.