Assessment of postoperative inflammatory markers and pain in cats after laparoscopy and miniceliotomy ovariectomy

Abstract

Videosurgery is increasingly used in veterinary medicine. Compared with open surgery, it has been shown to cause minimal pain and promote a more rapid recovery. There are various methods of assessing pain and postoperative inflammation in cats, although their particular behaviours may make these assessments difficult. The aim of this study was to compare levels of postoperative pain and inflammation after laparoscopic ovariectomy with an open minimally invasive technique. Twenty queens were randomly divided into two groups based on the method of haemostasis and surgical technique: (1) laparoscopic ovariectomy using a miniloop (miniloop group (MG)); and (2) minilaparotomy using a Snook hook (control group (CG)). Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), end tidal CO2 (EtCO2) and body temperature were assessed using a multiparametric monitor during anaesthesia and surgery at defined surgical time points (preincision, left ovary manipulation, right ovary manipulation and skin suture). Blood samples (2 mL each) were collected from the jugular vein before surgery and 1, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours, and 10 days, after endotracheal extubation for blood count analysis and to assess total protein and acute phase proteins (APP). EtCO2 and RR were significantly higher in MG patients (P<0.001). HR was higher in the CG group for the duration of surgery (P=0.01). Temperature was significantly lower in MG patients (P<0.001). Pain assessment by dynamic interactive visual analogue scale showed no difference between groups or at specific moments of time within groups. Segmented neutrophil counts increased at 24 hours postoperatively and peaked at 48 and 72 hours in MG (P=0.01). The most important result among APPs was haptoglobin, which peaked at 72 hours in MG patients (P=0.001). Patients undergoing minilaparotomy and laparoscopy showed comparable postoperative pain. However, inflammatory changes such as APPs and neutrophil counts were increased in the laparoscopic group.

Changes in Acute Phase Proteins in Bitches after Laparoscopic, Midline, and Flank Ovariectomy Using the Same Method for Hemostasis

“…Haptoglobin (Hp) is a moderate positive APP involved in host defense responses to infection and inflammation [5]. Increases in Hp concentration have been described after surgical trauma in dogs, as well as other species, such as cats [15][16][17]. Changes in Hp can be detected at 24 h after a surgical procedure, showing the peak concentration 3-4 days after surgery [5].…”

“…These inflammatory biomarkers have also been studied in conjunction with the leucogram to monitor the post-operative period in dogs [60,61], as well as after surgical trauma in other species such as cows [62,63]. Specific studies on APR after surgical neutering (OVE or OVH techniques) are described in both dogs and cats [11,16,28,58].…”

“…Changes in the APP have also been studied in dogs undergoing minimally invasive surgery of different types, showing major increases in the APP than in the open techniques [42]. Some studies compare conventional midline laparotomy with mini-laparotomy techniques or laparoscopic-assisted techniques [15,64], but purely laparoscopic technique is less represented [10,16,65]. Different techniques for hemostasis of the ovarian pedicle (sutures, ties, sealing devices) are used among these studies, which may cause variations in the post-surgical inflammation [37,39,43,44,66].…”

Retrospective comparison of open vs minimally invasive cystotomy in 28 cats using a composite outcome score

“…[8][9][10][11] Both dogs and cats may benefit from minimally invasive procedures; however, reports of outcomes solely in feline patients are under-represented in the literature. [12][13][14][15][16] While laparoscopic-assisted cystotomy (LAC) and percutaneous cystolithotomy (PCCL) techniques have been described in cats for treatment of cystic calculi in several studies, [4][5][6] they made up <30% of the study populations.…”

Application of a complete blood count to screening lethargic and anorectic cats for pancreatitis

“…Various inflammatory biomarkers are used in human and veterinary medicine for tentative detection, or rather exclusion, of active inflammatory, infectious and neoplastic processes [18]. Of them biomarkers based on complete blood count (CBC) such as total (WBC) and differential leukocyte count, as well as neutrophilto-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) have been investigated in small animal veterinary medicine mainly due to their low cost and broad availability [19][20][21][22][23].…”