Colic Surgery with Positive Outcomes

few treatment possibilities and most of the time conservative therapy is not an option because of the deteriorating clinical status of the horse.
Understandably horse owners worry about the cost of surgery especially if they do not have insurance coverage. And there is no doubt that the status of insurance plays a big role in the decision to go ahead the emotional value of the horse notwithstanding.
In my experience it would seem that finances are the factor that almost forcibly play the biggest role she says. It is not cheap to go through a colic surgery adding also the pre and postoperative care to the end of the bill but in the longterm questionnaire a large number of the owners felt that the price of the end bill was reasonable compared to the end results.
There is no doubt in Immonens mind that todays better diagnosis procedures surgical care and new technologies have played a large role in the improved percentages of better outcomes.
However she says the most important factors have been early recognition and intervention as well as timely referral of surgical colic cases. If the colic continues over a longer period the clinical status and potential outcomes for survival may deteriorate. For postoperative conditions better knowledge and more effective ways to manage immediate complications have positively increased survival outcomes.
Colic surgery might not always be perceived as the last possible resort to avoid death but can now be considered a treatment option for certain types of colic she says. It should be noted that in general most possibly the increasing amount of information has aided the survival outcomes. Referring clinicians and owners are well informed and clinicians are able to recognize and refer the serious colic cases early.
Immonen feels that the longterm survival and prognosis studies can definitely help the decisionmaking process of owners generally bearing in mind that every horse and every colic episode is different. The overall results cannot always be extrapolated for each individual.
Most often the questions I encounter in my daily work are about finances survival prognosis and postoperative athletic function when dealing with patients with serious colic in need of an operation. Therefore I feel that the results clearly help both the owners and the clinicians.
Providing the horse survived and was healthy enough for discharge from the hospital the prognosis for longterm survival and return to its previous level of sports activity and performance was good
following the colic surgery regardless of breed. None of the factors studied were found to compromise performance in the same discipline or the intended discipline. The majority of the horses in the study returned to their previous activity and performed satisfactorily for several years after surgery.