Keeping the recovery box dark for horses
Keeping the recovery box dark for horses Horses are generally considered to be more at risk of complications during a general anaesthetic than are other domestic animals or humans. The recovery phase is a particularly high risk time. Unless the horse recovers calmly it may injure itself while struggling to stand before its limbs are fully coordinated. A horse that recovers badly may remove its dressings which could lead to contamination and breakdown of the wound. There is also a significant risk of horses suffering fractures - often unrelated to their original problem. | |
Anaesthetists have developed various techniques to try and achieve a smooth recovery. Often an additional dose of sedative is given at the end of the operation so that the horse remains calm while the anaesthetic wears off. Other possibilities include assisted recovery - in which the horse's head and tail are supported so that it is less likely to fall when it does try to stand.
Many anaesthetists feel that keeping the recovery box darkened while the horse recovers helps to promote or encourage a calm recovery. But surprisingly there has been no research into whether this is really necessary.
So anaesthetists at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine carried out a study into the benefits of illumination or darkness in the recovery stall.
Dr Stuart Clark-Price and colleagues Dr Lysa Posner and Robin Gleed studied 29 horses recovering from general anaesthesia.
The horses were young (two to five years old) and healthy. All had been anaesthetised for the same operation to be carried out ( a "laryngeal tied-forward" procedure ).
The horses were divided at random into two groups. They were anaesthetised following standard procedures. The only difference between the two groups was whether they woke up in the dark or in the light. For one group the recovery stall was darkened by turning off the lights and closing the door. For the other, the recovery box lights were turned on.
The horses were left quietly to recover on their own. Video cameras in the recovery box recorded the recovery. The video recording of the horses in the darkened stall was done using infrared illumination.
The scientists looked at factors such as total time the horse was anaesthetised, how much anaesthetic the horse received, the time taken from the end of the operation to the first movement, and the time from the end of the operation until the horse stood. They also calculated a total recovery score based on the quality of the recovery, according to the video evidence.
They found no significant difference in the quality of the recovery between the two groups. In other words, they could see no benefit in keeping the recovery stall darkened. They concluded that darkening the recovery stall while horses recover from general anaesthetic may not be necessary.
For more details see:
Recovery of horses from general anaesthesia in a darkened or illuminated recovery stall.
SC Clark-Price, LP Posner, RD Gleed.
Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia (20008) 35, 473 - 479.
Reproduced with kind permission of Mark Andrews BVM&S CertEP MRCVS
© Copyright Mark Andrews - Equine Science Update 2008
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Added on: 26/02/09.
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