Evaluation of two techniques for large intestinal resection and anastomosis in the horse.

Six normal adult horses had large colon resections at the sternal and diaphragmatic flexures. Stainless steel staples were used to close the stumps of the dorsal and ventral colons in all six. Intestinal continuity was restored with a side-to-side anastomosis of the dorsal and ventral colons. Three of these anastomoses were performed with staples, and three with a double inverting suture pattern. After one month, the horses were surgically reevaluated, and the anastomotic sites were examined. There was no significant difference between the stoma sizes in the two groups. No complications were observed with either of the methods. However, the stapling procedure was faster to perform and resulted in less contamination of the surgical field. For these reasons, the authors preferred the stapling technique. No adverse effects from large colon resection were observed. Although the results described are quite good, resection of more extensive portions of the large colon can be more demanding and more problematic.