Real-time three-dimensional echocardiography for left atrial volume assessment in Thoroughbred racehorses: Observer variability and comparison with two-dimensional echocardiography.

Background: Left atrial size predicts cardiac morbidity and mortality in humans and dogs. Real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) may be reliable for assessing left atrial volume (LAV) in horses.

Objectives: To determine intra- and interobserver variability estimates of 3DE-LAV and compare it to that of 2DE-LAV estimates.

A comparison of two ketamine doses for field anaesthesia in horses undergoing castration.

Background: Ketamine at 2.2 mg/kg given i.v.

Thermography as an early predictive measurement for evaluating epidural and femoral-sciatic block success in dogs.

Objective: To evaluate skin temperature increase as an early predictive measure for evaluating epidural and femoral-sciatic block success in dogs.

Study Design: Prospective clinical trial.

Animals: A total of 29 dogs undergoing orthopaedic surgery on one hindlimb.

Electrocardiographic indicators of excitability in horses for predicting recovery quality after general anaesthesia.

Objective: To determine whether preoperative electrocardiographic measurements linked to sympathetic nervous activity could be used to predict recovery quality after general anaesthesia in horses.

Study Design: Prospective, clinical study.

Animals: Eighteen adult client-owned horses.

Risk factors for race-associated sudden death in Thoroughbred racehorses in the UK (2000-2007).

Reasons For Performing Study: Sudden death adversely affects racehorse welfare, jockey safety and the public perception of horseracing.

Objective: To describe the risk of racing-associated sudden death in Thoroughbred racehorses in the UK from 2000 to 2007, to identify whether there were risk factors uniquely associated with sudden death and to improve the understanding of the pathogenesis of racing-associated sudden death by identification of risk factors for such cases.

Methods: A sudden death was defined as an acute collapse and death, in an apparently healthy Thoroughbred racehorse, during or immediately after racing, in the absence of clinical data indicative of a catastrophic orthopaedic injury.

Sudden death in racing Thoroughbred horses: an international multicentre study of post mortem findings.

Reasons For Performing Study: To improve the understanding of exercise related sudden death in Thoroughbred racehorses.

Objectives: To describe the post mortem findings in cases of sudden death associated with exercise in 268 Thoroughbred racehorses.

Methods: Gross and histological post mortem findings of 268 cases of sudden death were collated and reviewed.

Retrospective evaluation of episodic collapse in the horse in a referred population: 25 cases (1995-2009).

Background: Episodic collapse in horses has equine welfare and human safety implications. There are, however, no published case series describing this syndrome.

Objectives: To characterize the cause and outcomes for horses referred for investigation of episodic collapse.

The bispectral index during recovery from halothane and sevoflurane anaesthesia in horses.

Objective: To record the bispectral index (BIS) when horses moved during either halothane or sevoflurane anaesthesia and when they made volitional movements during recovery from these anaesthetics.

Study Design: Randomized prospective clinical study.

Animals: Twenty-five client-owned horses undergoing surgery aged 8.

The risk of death: the confidential enquiry into perioperative small animal fatalities.

Objective: To estimate the risks of anaesthetic and sedation-related mortality in companion animals in the UK. (The Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Small Animal Fatalities, CEPSAF).

Study Design: A prospective cohort study with nested case-control study.

The effects of halothane and isoflurane on cardiovascular function in dorsally recumbent horses undergoing surgery.

Objective: To determine the haemodynamic effects of halothane and isoflurane with spontaneous and controlled ventilation in dorsally recumbent horses undergoing elective surgery.

Study Design: Prospective randomized clinical trial.

Animals: Twenty-five adult horses, body mass 487 kg (range: 267-690).

The effects of morphine on the recovery of horses from halothane anaesthesia.

Objective: To investigate the effects of peri-operative morphine on the quality and duration of recovery from halothane anaesthesia in horses.

Study Design: Prospective randomized study.

Animals: Twenty-two client owned horses, ASA category I or II.

The effects of halothane and isoflurane on cardiovascular function in laterally recumbent horses.

Background: Experimental studies in adult horses have shown that general anaesthesia maintained with isoflurane is associated with less depression of cardiovascular function compared with halothane anaesthesia. Adverse effects of intermittent positive-pressure ventilation (IPPV) have also been demonstrated. Nevertheless, the haemodynamic effects of these agents and the effects of differing modes of ventilation have not been assessed during clinical anaesthesia in horses undergoing surgery.

Effects of peri-operative morphine administration during halothane anaesthesia in horses.

Objective: To study the effects of morphine on haemodynamic variables, blood gas values and the requirement for additional anaesthetic drugs in horses undergoing surgery.

Study Design: Prospective randomized study.

Methods: Thirty-eight client-owned horses, ASA(American Society of Anesthesiologists) category I or II, undergoing elective surgical procedures, were studied.

Use of intravenous flecainide in horses with naturally-occurring atrial fibrillation.

Reasons For Performing Study: It has been reported that i.v. flecainide has a high efficacy for the treatment of experimentally-induced acute atrial fibrillation (AF) in horses and that its use is associated with minimal toxic side effects.

Diagnosis and treatment of retropharyngeal injuries in lambs associated with the administration of intraruminal boluses.

The administration of intraruminal identification boluses to a group of 76 lambs resulted in 24 (32 per cent) showing signs of pharyngeal damage. In 16 of them the bolus was found to be in the retropharyngeal region by means of a hand-held microchip scanner, radiography and endoscopy. Purulent tracts were identified in the dorsal pharynx.

Problems associated with perioperative morphine in horses: a retrospective case analysis.

Objective: To identify the incidence of adverse effects caused by morphine 100-170 micro g kg-1 administration during surgery in horses.

Design: Retrospective case record analysis (1996-2000).

Animals: Eighty-four healthy (ASA 1 or 2) horses, mean age 5.

Effect of a 30-minute infusion of dobutamine hydrochloride on hind limb blood flow and hemodynamics in halothane-anesthetized horses.

Objective: To evaluate the hemodynamic effects of dobutamine hydrochloride (0.5 microg/kg of body weight/min) in halothane-anesthetized horses.

Animals: 6 adult Thoroughbred horses.

A comparison of the haemodynamic effects of isoflurane and halothane anaesthesia in horses.

The purpose of this study was to compare the haemodynamic effects of equipotent isoflurane and halothane anaesthesia. Six adult horses were investigated on two separate occasions at least 4 weeks apart. On both occasions anaesthesia was induced by ketamine 2.

Cardiac output measured by lithium dilution, thermodilution, and transesophageal Doppler echocardiography in anesthetized horses.

Objective: To assess the suitability of lithium dilution as a method for measuring cardiac output in anesthetized horses, compared with thermodilution and transesophageal Doppler echocardiography.

Animals: 6 horses (3 Thoroughbreds, 3 crossbreeds).

Procedure: Cardiac output was measured in 6 anesthetized horses as lithium dilution cardiac output (LiDCO), thermodilution cardiac output (TDCO), and transesophageal Doppler echocardiographic cardiac output (DopplerCO).

Measurements of hindlimb blood flow recorded using Doppler ultrasound during administration of vasoactive agents in halothane-anesthetized horses.

The purpose of the study was to determine the ability of Doppler ultrasound to detect changes in femoral blood flow during pharmacologic manipulation of arterial blood pressure. Doppler ultrasonography was performed in the femoral vessels of six halothane-anesthetized horses before and during administration of phenylephrine HCI and sodium nitroprusside. The time-averaged mean velocity and volumetric flow were calculated.

Temporal effects of an infusion of dobutamine hydrochloride in horses anesthetized with halothane.

Objective: To evaluate temporal hemodynamic effects of dobutamine in horses anesthetized with halothane.

Animals: 8 adult Thoroughbreds.

Procedure: Anesthesia was induced by i.

Haemodynamic effects of a sixty minute infusion of dopamine hydrochloride in horses anaesthetised with halothane.

To describe the haemodynamic effects of a 60 min infusion of dopamine 4 microg/kg bwt/min during halothane anaesthesia, 7 mature Thoroughbred horses were studied. The infusion began 1 h after induction of anaesthesia by romifidine (100 microg/kg) and ketamine (2.2 mg/kg bwt).

Comparison of three injectable anaesthetic techniques in pigs.

Forty-six near-adult pigs (mean age 10 months, mean weight 156 kg) were anaesthetised for laparoscopy. After intramuscular azaperone (1.0 mg/kg) and ketamine (2.