colic
two entrapments A tale of
B y
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Gastrosplenic entrapment
(GLE) and epiploic foramen entrapment (EFE) are fairly small slices of the overall colic pie. As such, the literature to determine whether certain diagnostic findings can help differentiate between the two is light, as is whether the complications and short-term survival associated with each type are similar. This was the impetus for Isabelle Kilcoyne, MVB, DACVS, of the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital
at University of California, Davis, and her colleagues to investigate whether GLE would have similar clinical presentation and diagnostic results as EFE, and whether GLE would be associated with a better short-term survival.
The Population
The retrospective study began with horses that had a definitive diagnosis of GLE or EFE based on intraoperative findings of necropsy at the teaching hospital during
P a u l
B a s i l i o
the past 20 years. “We also looked through the records and pulled the cases that presented for colic during that time and reviewed the signalment for those horses,” Dr. Kilcoyne said here at the 61st Annual AAEP Convention in Las Vegas. “We found 9,755 horses that were examined because of colic during that period. There were 43 horses with GLE and 73 with EFE in that group.”
Presentation
Tennessee Walking Horses and horses aged 8-12 years were overrepresented in the GLE group, and Thoroughbreds, warmbloods, Morgan horses and horses aged 13-20 years were overrepresented in the EFE group. These findings were significantly different than the overall colic population. “Contrary to a lot of other studies, we did not find an association between cribbing and GLE
Anatomy Lesson The gastrosplenic ligament is a thin, broad mesenteric band that extends from the greater curvature of the stomach to the cranial edge of the spleen. The exact role of the ligament isn’t exactly known, but it is thought to provide some structural support for the abdominal viscera. It most commonly involves the small intestine, but rare cases have shown the large intestine entrapped within the ligament. The epiploic foramen is an opening in the omental bursa that 4
Issue 6/2016 | ModernEquineVet.com
measures 4-6 cm and separates the omental bursa from the rest of the abdominal cavity. The borders of the epiploic foramen include the caudate process of the liver and the portal vein. Recently, the literature has described a more significant role attributed the gastropancreatic fold that forms the dorsal and caudoventral borders of the foramen. Entrapment typically occurs from left to right.