Surgical interventions and outcome in a population of feline trauma patients

Abstract

Objective: To determine signalment, injury type, trauma severity score, and outcome of feline trauma patients undergoing surgical (emergency room [ER] and operating room [OR]) and nonsurgical treatments in addition to time to surgery, specialty services involved, and cost in the OR surgery population. Design: Retrospective evaluation of medical record and hospital trauma registry data on feline trauma cases. Setting: University teaching hospital. Animals: Two hundred and fifty-one cats presenting for traumatic injury between May 2017 and July 2020. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Demographics and outcomes were compared for cats undergoing surgical intervention in an OR (12%, 31/251) or an ER (23%, 58/251) setting and feline trauma patients without surgical intervention (65%, 162/251).Between the 2 surgical groups, 99% survived to discharge compared to 73.5% of the nonsurgical group (P < 0.0001). For the OR surgical cohort, electronic medical records were reviewed to determine the specialty surgery service involved, time to and duration of anesthesia and surgery, and visit cost. The most common surgery services involved were orthopedics (41%, 12/29) and dentistry (38%, 11/29), and the most common surgeries performed were mandibular fracture stabilization (8/29) and internal fixation for long bone fractures (8/29). The ER surgical group had a significantly lower Animal Trauma Triage score than the OR group (P < 0.0001), but a significant difference was not found between OR surgical and nonsurgical groups (P = 0.0553). No difference in modified Glasgow Coma Scale score was found between any groups.

Potential Factors Influencing Complete Functional Recovery in Traumatized Unowned Cats with Orthopedic Lesions—A Cohort Study

“…First, due to its retrospective nature, we could not apply previously validated scales, such as the animal trauma triage score (ATTs) or the modified Glasgow coma scale (mGCS) [ 43 , 44 ], since data records did not always include all the variables requested for their computation. Few studies calculated the ATTs from retrospectively collected data [ 10 , 26 ], and it resulted with an association with the need for transfusion and hospital discharge in cats with pelvic injury [ 10 ], whereas most research evaluated retrospectively previously recorded ATTs [ 9 , 27 , 43 , 45 ]. On the other hand, the mGCS had been only evaluated retrospectively from data collected on arrival [ 27 , 36 , 45 , 46 ].…”

“…Few studies calculated the ATTs from retrospectively collected data [ 10 , 26 ], and it resulted with an association with the need for transfusion and hospital discharge in cats with pelvic injury [ 10 ], whereas most research evaluated retrospectively previously recorded ATTs [ 9 , 27 , 43 , 45 ]. On the other hand, the mGCS had been only evaluated retrospectively from data collected on arrival [ 27 , 36 , 45 , 46 ]. It would be interesting to explore the performance of our TTRS in comparison to the other already validated scales, and eventually identify their predictive cut-offs on the CFR.…”

Anaesthetic mortality in cats: A worldwide analysis and risk assessment

“…[43][44][45] Furthermore, abdominal surgery increases heat loss, raising mortality risk. 35 Orthopaedic procedures typically involve cats with fractures or luxations resulting from trauma, 46 and these patients may have additional undetected injuries that necessitate a thorough examination before anaesthesia. 47 This assessment is crucial for the patient's safety and helps identify any risk factors or physiological changes that could affect the anaesthesia plan.…”