Postoperative complications and owner assessment of single portal laparoscopic ovariectomy in dogs

The aim of this retrospective study and owner survey was to record the postoperative complication rate, pain score and owners’ satisfaction rates of single portal laparoscopic ovariectomy in dogs using an operating laparoscope and to compare our results with data in the veterinary literature on other laparoscopic methods. Therefore, the medical records of all bitches that were spayed using a laparoscopic single port ovariectomy with an operating laparoscope between November 2007 and November 2014 were reviewed. A minimum follow-up period of 12 months was required for study inclusion. One hundred and thirty two adult, healthy, femal dogs were included in our study. The information collected included breed, bodyweight, age at ovariectomy and postoperative complications detected during follow-up 9–14 days after surgery. Furthermore, an electronic questionnaire was implemented, and the owners of the dogs were asked to report on long-term complications and to retrospectively evaluate postoperative pain and overall satisfaction. Sixty-two different and mixed breed dogs with weights ranging from 1.9 to 50 kg and ages ranging from 0.5 to 10.8 years were included. Short-term complications were detected in 21 out of 132 cases, mostly at the surgical site (15.9 per cent). According to our questionnaire (n=65), 10 dogs developed urinary incontinence categorised as a major complication (15.4 per cent). The owner’s evaluated pain score was less than 300 on a 1000-unit visual analogue scale for 56 out of 65 dogs (86.2 per cent) and less than 500 in 63 dogs (96.9 per cent). The dog owners’ satisfaction rate was 95.3 per cent (87.5 per cent evaluated the surgery as excellent and 7.8 per cent as good). Altogether, our study suggests that single port access using an operating laparoscope for ovariectomy has minor complication rates comparable to other laparoscopic techniques but has the advantages of a low postoperative pain level as evaluated by the owner and a very high owner’s satisfaction rate.

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