Surgical management of uterine torsion through ventral celiotomy in eleven mares

This article describes the surgical management of uterine torsion by midline celiotomy for cesarean section in 11 mares presented with signs of colic at a teaching veterinary hospital. The mares were either in full term of gestation (n = 6) or in advanced stage of pregnancy (n = 5). Majority of the mares (44.5%) were in fourth parity. 78% cases of uterine torsion were post cervical and clockwise and (22%) cases were post cervical and anticlockwise. For surgical intervention, mares were anesthetized using a combination of xylazine (1.1 mg/kg) and ketamine (2.2 mg/kg), intravenously and maintained on isoflurane inhalation anesthesia. Midline celiotomy was performed, and foals were delivered by cesarean section. Before closing the abdominal wound, the uterus was detorted manually and confirmed per-vaginally for its normal position. After long-term follow-up, the study reported 90.0% (10/11) survival rate out of which, seven were bred successfully.