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. 1996 Dec 1;37(4):415–426. doi: 10.1186/BF03548081

Comparison of Two Surgical Treatments of Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus in Dogs

Sammenligning av to kirurgiske behandlingsmetoder av ventrikkeldilatasjons/torsjons-syndromet hos hund

AV Eggertsdóttir 15,✉, Ø Stigen 15, L Lønaas 15, Ø Kolbjørnsen 25, L Moe 15
PMCID: PMC8064008  PMID: 9050274

Abstract

The purpose of this randomized clinical study was to compare the effect of 2 surgical methods in the treatment of gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV) in dogs. One group of dogs (group A) was treated with and one group (group B) without fixation of the stomach.

Group A consisted of 21 cases (including 2 dropouts) and group B of 10 cases. The dogs in group A received decompression, anatomical repositioning of the stomach and a circumcostal gastropexy and the dogs in group B (the control group) received the same treatment without gastropexy. Supportive treatment was the same for both groups. The randomization of the dogs in groups A and B was successful with only small differences between the 2 groups in the breed, age, sex and initial decompression methods.

At the end of the study (censoring time), the median survival times were significantly different between group A and group B, respectively 549 and 107 days. There were no recurrences in group A while in group B 3 dogs (50%) experienced a recurrence within 6 months. The overall death rates within the first year were 32% in group A and 80% in group B. The death rates caused by GDV and GDV related causes only, after one year of follow-up, were 19% and 71% for groups A and B, respectively.

This study shows that treatment that included circumcostal gastropexy significantly reduced the recurrence of GDV and prolonged the postoperative survival time compared with treatment that did not include fixation of the stomach.

Keywords: torsion, syndrome, circumcostal gastropexy

Full Text

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Central Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, Physiology and Nutrition, Norwegian College of Veterinary Medicine for analyzing the blood samples and the Department of Morphology, Genetics and Aquatic Biology for performing the autopsies and our colleagues W. Bredal, S.I. Thoresen, E. Skjerve and I. Skaar for their assistance, constructive criticism and support.

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