PARAVERTEBRAL THORACOLUMBAR ANESTHESIA IN 10 HORSES

The caudal border of the last rib was used as a reliable point of orie ntation while performing paravertebral thoracolumbar anaesthesia (PTLA ) on 10 horses undergoing standing flank laparotomy. The local anaesth etic in all horses was 2% lidocaine. The PTLA procedure was completed in 9.8+/-1.8 mins (mean+/-sd). Sedation was provided by a combination of intravenous morphine with xylazine or detomidine. Overall analgesia , provided by the combination of PTLA and sedation, was rated as excel lent in 2 horses and good in 6 horses. In the remaining 2 horses, over all analgesia was rated as fair because of incomplete analgesia at the ventral portion of the incision. Total time, from start of PTLA to en d of surgery was 143.5+/-24.2 mins. Five horses responded mildly to su turing of the ventral portion of the incision. Apart from 1 horse whic h developed transient, unilateral hindlimb weakness intraoperatively, no other complications were noticed. We conclude that PTLA can easily be performed in the horse and, combined with systemic sedation, is an effective and safe method of providing analgesia for standing flank la parotomy.