Four mesenteric torsions in two months....

Re: Four mesenteric torsions in two months....

John Flynn — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 10:13:21 GMT

[quote user="Tim Charlesworth"](I remember one case that I wanted to PTS as si was purple/black but couldn't get hold of the o so proceeded with surgery and he recovered just fine[/quote]

Thanks Tim, that's very interseting.

I've seen 3 that I can remember off the top of my head, all within the last few years, and have euthanased each on the table after observing purple/black guts . On the last occasion, I opened the dog up simply to confirm that the guts were indeed purple/black before euthanasing.

I might be a little more inclined to untwist and see next time round just in case...

Re: Four mesenteric torsions in two months....

Tim Charlesworth — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 09:32:48 GMT

These are interesting cases and you need to get them rapidly stabilised and straight into theatre to give them any chance of recovery. I've seen a few "classic" mesenteric torsions. I've also seen a few caeo-colonic torsions which are easier to deal with and can mimic the normal, small intestinal, torsions. I have had these dogs survive and it can be very hard to assess bowel viability intra-op (I remember one case that I wanted to PTS as si was purple/black but couldn't get hold of the o so proceeded with surgery and he recovered just fine). The other risk with these dogs is that of thromboembolism within the first 72hrs. I had a great dane who we got through surgery, went home and then threw a clot and died the next day.

There's a vet in the US (whose name I have forgotten) who works with police GSD's who sees a lot of these and reports good success rates so early recognition and treatment can potentially lead to good outcomes but it's so unusual in general practice that the majority are probably not presented or diagnosed early enough...

Re: Four mesenteric torsions in two months....

Malcolm Ness — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 08:43:08 GMT

My feeling (note the soft wording) is that these are rare but perhaps not quite as rare as the literature might suggest. They almost always die and die before they might be referred. Most of the veterinary literature emanates from referral clinicians and consequently, there is relatively little written about these.

I suspect that some die before they get to a primary care vet and others die without a definitive diagnosis, hence further under-recognition. We see/recognise these infrequently - at a guess I would suggest one mesenteric torsion for every 50 or so GDVs. In my experience, GSDs are well represented - certainly as GSDs have become much less common here over the last 20 years, both GDVs and mesenteric torsions have become less common.

Out of interest, how many of you have successfully treated one of these?

Re: Four mesenteric torsions in two months....

Charlie Lyon — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 20:34:29 GMT

Yes this is about the mesentric torsions - we have a lot of GSD breeders around us, to be fair a lot of breeders in general - had three GDV's in one weekend at the practice so well versed in them! We had a mesentric torsion five years ago, another GSD - diagnosed post mortem as it died in the kennels, but the sudden grouping is a little odd.

I heard one of the local practices in the area also had a couple of cases - just wondering if any definite causes have been identified as can't really find anything in the literature so asking for personal experiences it's hard to advise owners why things happen and if they can do anything to prevent them when noone really seems to know!

Re: Four mesenteric torsions in two months....

Utlendigur — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 20:14:14 GMT

[quote user="Richard Carter"]

are they getting those hide chews? Almost all my GDV cases in the last 3 years involve a raw-hide treat - one actually stuck in the pyloris

[/quote]

I think the OP was asking about mesenteric torsion rather than gastric. I've seen one definite and another possible in 22yrs - both GSDs with chronic GI problems. The definite one was pts on table because the whole intestine was dead, the other one died before surgery. I thought I'd read there was a link between GSDs and chronic diarrhoea being a risk factor.

Re: Four mesenteric torsions in two months....

Richard Carter — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 17:51:44 GMT

are they getting those hide chews? Almost all my GDV cases in the last 3 years involve a raw-hide treat - one actually stuck in the pyloris

Re: Four mesenteric torsions in two months....

Yantha Smyth — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 17:46:53 GMT

Funnily enough I just saw my first case of this last week! 2-3yo male spaniel, a bit off colour night before, vomited once, then stayed in bed all day. Initially had a 6pm appt on the Friday, but was rushed in at lunch time...agonal type breathing, faint slow heart beat, white mms and no corneal reflex....resuscitated sufficiently to obtain bloods (hypoglycaemic, hyperkalaemic), abdo tap (+ve blood), and ultrasound- abdomen small volume effusion, widespread dilation of SI loops with oedematous walls and fluid filled. Somehow got it to surgery and duodenum to colon all non viable. I wasn't sure what to expect on ultrasound, and am surprised that there was no real gas interference given how they appear on X-ray. We didn't get into X-ray, which likely would have been at least as useful but his status was so precarious I was reluctant to rearrange everything to get him set up in another room.

Re: Four mesenteric torsions in two months....

Julian Earl — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 15:49:07 GMT

I must be missing these because I've not seen on yet after thirty years. On the other hand, I saw twelve cases of intussusception in my first eighteen months after qualification. That was steep learning curve for enterectomies...

Re: Four mesenteric torsions in two months....

Mark Holmes — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 13:37:46 GMT

I saw my first in 13 years last month.... It too was euthanased. Maybe it's a conspiracy.