Surgical Treatment of Displaced Abomasum in Cattle Using Ljubljana Method

Abstract

Displacement of the abomasum (DA) is an increasingly common disease in dairy cattle in intensive production. This study presents surgical treatment of DA using Ljubljana method in years 2005 and 2006. Slovenian Black and White dairy cows (n = 30) with left DA in 19 cows, right DA in four cows, anterior DA in two cows and abomasal volvulus in five cows were used. The surgical treatment was successful in 28 cows, 2 had to be euthanized due to complications associated with left DA and abomasal volvulus. One month after the surgery all 28 cows were productive. Omentopexy using Ljubljana method can be used as a clinical procedure as well as procedure performed in ambulatory practice. , surgery, percutaneous, abdomen, omentopexy In the last decade, displacement of the abomasum (DA) has been one of the most common surgical interventions in dairy cattle. It occurs due to gas accumulation in the abomasum, which pulls the organ from its physiological position on the abdominal floor either between the left abdominal wall and rumen or between the right abdominal wall and intestines. Distended abomasum can also change its normal position in the cranial direction. In such case, displaced abomasum is trapped between the reticulum and diaphragm. This type of displacement is called anterior DA (Zadnik et al. 2001;Zadnik 2003a). The incidence of left abomasal displacement on lactation varies between 0.5 and 2.2%; in certain circumstances it may be even 5% or more (Steiner 2006). Left DA is much more common (85-96% of DA) than right DA, accounting for 4-15% of cases (Constable et al. 1992). In a study conducted in Slovenia, anterior abomasal displacement accounted for 12.4% of cases (Zadnik 2003a). DisplacementMajority of cases develop within the first month after calving and other cases develop during last months of pregnancy or in other physiological periods. Beside known predisposing factors such as negative energy balance, hypocalcaemia, retained foetal membranes, uterine infections, dystocia, cow breed, and others, physiologically more transverse and cranial position of the abomasum during the last 3 months of gestation (Wittek et al. 2005) and increasing depth of abdomen (Wittek et al. 2007) increase the risk of displacement in dairy cattle.In rare cases, abomasum spontaneously returns to its physiological position on the abdominal floor. In majority of cases, treatment of the affected animal is necessary. Decision upon the type of treatment is dependent on various factors including availability of equipment, clinical status of the animal, costs of procedure, clinician's skills and preferences, value of the animal, owner's wishes, etc. Abomasal displacements can be corrected by surgical or nonsurgical techniques. Nonsurgical techniques include rolling the cow to flip the abomasum back in place, or securing the abomasum to the body wall with a percutaneous blind tack or a toggle pin fixation. Rolling is not an effective long-term treatment because most cows will have a recurrence. Left DA can be corrected surgicall...

The potential identical hemo-biological makers to the left abomasal displacement in dairy cows

“…We are unaware of previous studies reporting impaired renal function in cows with LDA. Alternatively, the increase of BUN and CREA can also result from increased protein decomposition or dehydration, which is more likely in the present study as judged by haemoconcentration and dehydration in cows with LDA [30]. Overall the present and previous data indicate that liver-or renal-related biomarkers are tightly associated with LDA in dairy cows.…”

Potential hemo-biological identification markers to the left displaced abomasum in dairy cows

“…We are unaware of previous studies reporting impaired renal function in cows with LDA. Alternatively, the increase of BUN and creatinine can also result from increased protein decomposition or dehydration, which is more likely in the present study as judged by haemoconcentration and dehydration in cows with LDA [ 30 ]. Overall the present and previous data indicate that liver- or kidney-related biomarkers are tightly associated with LDA in dairy cows.…”

Potential hemo-biological identification markers to the left displaced abomasum in dairy cows

“…The most common diagnostic physical nding of LDA in cows is a pinging sound through simultaneous auscultation and percussion of the abdomen area marked by a line from the tuber coxae to the point of the elbow [5,30,39]. The analysis of hematological biomarkers is also regarded as a useful diagnostic method in abdominal disorders of dairy cows because these biomarkers could re ect the conditions of metabolism, stress, injury, and in ammation.…”