Surgical Diseases of the Neonate

摘要

Diseases of foals less than four weeks of age that require surgery can affect the digestive, respiratory, urogenital, musculo-skeletal, and integumentary systems. This paper focuses primarily on the surgical diseases of the abdomen (gastrointestinal tract, umbilicus, and urogenial tract) and of the upper airway. The gastrointestinal system presents the largest number of surgical indications. Assessment of abdominal pain and the need for surgery was discussed in the previous paper. It is important torecognize that duration of an abdominal abnormality usually plays a large roll in the outcome. Time makes a difference at each step. This includes the time taken: from recognition of abdominal pain to arrival at a surgical facility, to evaluate the needfor surgery, to prepare the foal for surgery, and to perform the surgery.