Intestinal torsion in a dog

Re: Intestinal torsion in a dog

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 31 May 2012 12:06:31 GMT

Never seen it-but good luck and keep us posted on results

Wynne

Re: Intestinal torsion in a dog

David Mills — Thu, 31 May 2012 00:45:24 GMT

We have seen some, most recent of which was in a cat with longstanding IBD that had developed fat necrosis, sticking firmly to the SI and acting as an anchor and 50% of the SI had passed through a mesenteric opening and started to die off - again acute presentation, large section SI removed and doing fine. I think the quoted figure is 70% SI can be removed without issues - certainly in our experience at least 50% can be removed, and on occasion we've had to remove ileocaecal junction with no obvious ill effects. A lot of the cases have had prior GI upset, making us think there may be some dilation happening first.

Re: Intestinal torsion in a dog

Julian Earl — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:33:58 GMT

We had an adult GSD last year with complete volvulus and which was brought for PM. First one that I've seen I think.

Re: Intestinal torsion in a dog

Sandra Milburn — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:43:14 GMT

Have only ever seen it once. Was a 10 week old GSD puppy that had been hopping around chasing butterflies in the garden with the owner. Then pup became more and more quiet and even during the consult I could see it deteriorate. Was looking more and more 'shocky'. Quick abdo x-ray showed bloated gut loops etc. Pup kept going downhill, despite drip and treatment (we are talking less than half an hour since it came in!!!) and did die/ PTS there and then. Post mortem: pretty much ALL of the small intestine had twisted through a hole in the mesentery and had died off. It was so twisted, that we could not untangle it! Never seen anything like it

Re: Intestinal torsion in a dog

dred.hall — Wed, 30 May 2012 10:27:13 GMT

As well as internal hernias, I have unfortunately seen a few (two in Bloodhounds - which is not a common breed!). VD radiographs usually show a spiral pattern of very distended bowel loops, so you would take it to surgery for an obstruction even if you didn't know what it was. None have survived as the whole SI was infarcted. There was a study in Italy (reported at ECVIM I think) many years ago where 10/11 died. I

Re: Intestinal torsion in a dog

Alex Gough — Wed, 30 May 2012 08:27:01 GMT

I've seen one, a long time ago. Was a roughly one year old Springer for memory that I had operated on for intussusception. I happened to be on call a few weeks/months later (it was a long time ago, sorry, memory hazy), when owner rang in middle of night to say dog had gone downhill rapidly. In view of previous history, I opened it up that night and found what you had described, although probably more acute/recent. The gut had slipped through a hole in the mesentery which was probably my fault for not having repaired properly at the intussusception site (I don't do surgery any more you will be relieved to hear!) so I unthreaded and untangled it and blood flow returned. No resection needed because I was in there so quickly I think. About a week of intensive care and it survived, and I followed it up for several years with no complications.

A couple of years later there was a paper in JSAP I think with a case series of five intestinal volvuli - all diagnosed post mortem!