Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The purpose of this literature study was to describe techniques for monitoring general anesthesia and standing chemical restraint in the horse. A number of various techniques and devices related to e.g. blood pressure measurement, blood gas analysis and pulse oximetry are defined, and finally their clinical relevance and reliability are discussed.

The equine patient is generally far more exposed to anesthesia-related risks than other smaller species. Complications such as hypotension and hypercapnia are commonly seen during general anesthesia. Thus, close monitoring is essentially performed by the veterinary nurse, whom is responsible for monitoring the anesthetized patient.

Nevertheless, monitoring of the equine patient whilst standing chemical restraint is performed has showed to be less frequently used. This may be due to the fact that the horse while awake is not subjected to the hazardous circumstances associated with general anesthesia, as a result of the negative effects of inhalation agents. Thus, given that the standing equine patient is mainly healthy, additional techniques beyond visual monitoring by the veterinary nurse, is considered unnecessary.
Although, some of the techniques used with general anesthesia would probably be feasible to apply to standing chemical restraint, which have been investigated through studies.
A part of the purpose with this essay was to analyze which of these techniques that have been tested in wake horses, and whether or not these methods were proven of reliance when used in the standing equine patient. Studies obtained a low rate of information about the possibilities for monitoring standing chemical restraint, which lead to the conclusion that additional research is desirable in the future.

In addition, an educational visit to an equine veterinary hospital was performed, in order to attend an operative procedure in a standing horse. Veterinary nurses were asked about their routines for standing surgery in the horse, with answers indicating that technical monitoring of standing chemical restraint normally was not being performed.