DEVELOPMENT OF VIDEOLAPAROSCOPIC TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF INTESTINAL DISEASES IN HORSES

Abstract

The use of laparoscopy in equine gastroenterology became auxiliary in the clinical and surgical approach to the diagnosis and treatment of different diseases that involve the abdomen of horses. Disorders as inflammatory bowel disease, diarrhea and displacement of large colon are commonly observed in the equine clinic. Laparoscopy is a minimally invasive technique, thus the surgical procedure is less traumatic when compared to laparotomy, favouring to the patient an early recovery and helping the surgeon to explore anatomical regions that are not possible by traditional surgical approaches. Laparoscopy allows biopsies of abdominal organs or safe therapeutic intervention in some regions, providing objective and specific information for the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of some diseases that involve the equine intestine, such as inflammatory bowel disease, diarrhea and nephrosplenic entrapment. Therefore, the development of intracorporeal techniques of intestinal biopsies and the occlusion of nephrosplenic space in horses, the aim of the present project, is justified since these techniques have a high degree of difficulty or lead to a high surgical trauma, making these methods underemployed besides its importance. This project, subdivided in two subprojects, have the aim of develop and standardize new laparoscopic techniques, the first one is the intracorporeal intestinal biopsy in horses, to obtain jejunal and large colon mucosa/submucosa, helping in the diagnosis of diseases that involve these segments, and the second on is to compare two laparoscopic surgical techniques for the occlusion of nephrosplenic space, reducing the surgical trauma and surgical time of this procedure. (AU)