< Home

Services

Your ECVS

< Back

33rd Annual Scientific Meeting proceedings


Stream:   |   Session:
Date/Time: 30-11--0001 (00:00 - 00:00)   |   Location:
Impact of perioperative antibiotics in equine closed castrations
Sjöberg I1, Ljungvall K*1, Andersen PH2, Sternberg-Lewerin S3
1Department of Clinical Sciences, SLU, Uppsala, Sweden, 2Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, SLU, Uppsala, Sweden, 3Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, SLU, Uppsala, Sweden.

Objectives:

The responsible use of antibiotics is crucial to combat antimicrobial resistance. Equine castrations with primary wound closure typically exhibit surgical site infection rates below 5%. Perioperative antibiotics are usually recommended only for procedures where the incidence of surgical site infection exceeds 5% without antibiotics. However, research on castrations without perioperative antibiotics is limited. This study aims to investigate the impact of perioperative antibiotics on complication rates after primary sutured equine castrations.

Methods:

A retrospective analysis based on medical records of 251 equine castrations (2016-2023) was conducted. Data encompassing horse demographics, peri-and postoperative medications, surgical techniques, and documented complications were assessed by descriptive statistics and analysed with Fisher's exact test.

Results:

The dataset included horses with a mean age of 3.1 years (range 1-15 years). All castrations utilized a closed technique with primary sutured wounds, yielding an overall complication rate of 9.6%. Perioperative antibiotics were administered to 54% of the 251 horses. Complication rates stood at 12.5% among those administered antibiotics and 6.0% in horses without antibiotic administration. The difference was not statistically significant.

Conclusions:

Administering perioperative antibiotics did not reduce the complication rates after closed castration with primary sutured wounds. These findings prompt a reconsideration of the perioperative use of antibiotics for closed castrations in equine hospital settings. Furthermore, the results suggest a need for a tailored approach to curb unnecessary antibiotic exposure and optimize outcomes.

Back to the top of the page ^