Abstracts

Abstract

Impairment of puerperal fertility may be a severe problem in some dairy herds. Within the last years, several diagnostic possibilities weredevelopedandvalidated.Theaimofthisstudy wastoevalu-atetheapplicabilityofbloodserumparameterssubstanceP(SP)and vasoactiveintestinalpolypeptide(VIP)fortheiruseinearlydiagnostics of uterine involution disturbances. Blood serum samples of 86 dairycowstakenwithinthefirst20dayspost-partumwereexamined using commercially available ELISA test kits. Animals were divided into two groups (healthy or diseased) depending on the results of clinicalandgynaecologicalexamination.Statisticalanalysisconsisted ofthetimelychangesinbloodserumlevelsaswellasthegroupcomparisonofhealthycowsandcowswithuterinedisease.Bloodserum concentrations for SP increased statistically significant within the first 20days after calving (p<0.04). There was no statistically significantdifferencebetweenthegroups.ConcerningVIP,neitherfor thetimelycoursenorforthegroupcomparisonasignificantdifferencecouldbeshown.SPrepresentsanaccreditedbiomarkerforpain in cattle. An increase of substance P within the first 20days postpartum suggests the presence of persisting pain presumably due to uterine involution processes. Nevertheless, both serum parametersdonotseemsuitableasindicatorsforthepresenceofuterine involutiondisorders. Theobjectivesofthisstudyweretoinvestigatethecasesofcamel dystocia in which fetotomy was indicated, the related complicationsandtheassociatedrisksformaternalmortalityandfertility. Fifty female dromedary camels were handled with fetotomy due to uncorrectable dystocia. The complications during and after fetotomyandpost-operativefertilityrateswererecorded.Logistic regressionwasperformedtoidentifyriskfactorsforthedependentvariablesofmaternalmortalityandfertilityafterfetotomy.The independentvariableswereparity,durationofdystocia,presence of foetal emphysema, number of cuts, duration of fetotomy and occurrence of complications during or after fetotomy. Common indications of fetotomy were head and neck deviations alone or with carpal or shoulder flexions (54%) and breech presentation (14%). Complications included tearing of the soft tissue of the birth canal (24%), uterine prolapse (6%) and retained placenta (4%). Maternal mortality occurred in 26% of the cases. A significantassociationwasdetectedbetweenmaternaldeathsandduration of dystocia (odds ratio=4.67, p=0.03), presence of foetal emphysema (odds ratio=3.93, p=0.04) and occurrence of complications during or after fetotomy (odds ratio=8.9, p=0.003). Post-operative fertility was 62.2%. None of the estimated factors showed a significant relationship with post-operative fertility. In conclusion, postural abnormalities constituted the most common indication of fetotomy in dromedary camels. The duration of dystocia, presenceoffoetal emphysema and occurrence of complications during or after fetotomy represented risks for maternal recovery. The fertilityrateafter fetotomy was generally encouraging. 3 | Effect of the ovarian superstimulation and ovum pick-up procedure on t...