Short-Term Survival and Postoperative Complications Rates in Horses Undergoing Colic Surgery: A Multicentre Study

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Colic surgery, despite the improvements in recent years, is not without risks and still has a high risk of death compared with other procedures. Although about 90% of cases of colic in horses resolve spontaneously or with medical treatment, the remaining 10% can be fatal if not treated surgically. Furthermore, postoperative complications can have important welfare and economic consequences. Studies of predictive prognosis indices, incidence of postoperative complications, and survival rates in different geographical areas may not be comparable. Consequently, there is a need to perform a study that investigates the Italian population of animals subjected to colic surgery. A total of 451 horses were included. The short-term survival rate was 68.5% for all the horses that underwent colic surgery and 80% of the horses surviving anaesthesia. Several risk factors were evaluated and age, body condition score (BCS), packed cell volume (PCV) and total plasma protein (TPP) before and after surgery, amount of reflux, type of disease, type of lesion, duration of surgery and surgeon’s experience, and amount of intra- and postoperative fluids administered affected the outcome. The multivariate analysis revealed that PCV at arrival, TPP after surgery, and BCS had the highest predictive power. This is the first multicentre study in Italy and the results of this study could help surgeons choose the best treatment and clearly communicate risks to referring veterinarians and owners. Further prospective studies should be conducted to confirm the effect of predictive indices considered in this study on short-term survival. ABSTRACT: The occurrence of colic could be influenced by the characteristics of a population, geographical area, and feeding management. The aim of this study was to report the short-term postoperative complications and survival rates and to identify factors that might affect the outcome of horses that underwent colic surgery in three Italian surgical referral centres. Data of horses subjected to colic surgery in three referral centres (2018–2021) were analysed. Comparisons of the outcomes were performed using a Mann–Whitney or a Chi square test. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used for parameters that were significant in the previous univariate analysis. The goodness-of-fit of the model was assessed using the Akike information criterion (AIC). Significance was defined as p < 0.05, and odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated as percentages. A total of 451 horses were included. The survival rate was 68.5% of all of the horses that underwent colic surgery and 80% of the horses surviving anaesthesia. Age, BCS, PCV and TPP before and after surgery, amount of reflux, type of disease, type of lesion, duration of surgery, surgeon’s experience, and amount of intra- and postoperative fluids administered influenced the probability of short-term survival. The multivariate analysis revealed that PCV at arrival, TPP after surgery, and BCS had the highest predictive power. This is the first multicentre study in Italy. The results of this study may help surgeons to inform owners regarding the prognosis of colic surgery.