Paracostal liver biopsy in cattle and buffalo/Biopsia hepatica por laparotomia paracostal em bovinos e bufalos

Liver biopsy in ruminants is an important technique for clinical diagnosis of toxic and metabolic diseases, especially mineral disorders. The most frequent procedures used so far results in an small amount of liver and not enough for multiple tests. The present study aims to evaluate the efficacy of paracostal laparotomy liver biopsy technique in cattle and buffalo and to follow possible changes on biochemical and hematological profiles caused by the surgery. Ten cattle and ten buffalo were used in this study. The animals were kept on their normal position and sedated with xilazin and locally infiltrated with lidocain and epinefrin. The access to abdominal cavity was carried through a right paracoastal laparotomy, ventrally to the transverse process of 2nd or 3rd lombar vertebra. A small portion of the hepatic caudal lobe (2 to 4g) was clinched by a Doyen clamp and removed. The abdominal cavity was closed as normally routine. Blood samples were taken to biochemical tests and hemogram before the procedure, and 24h, 48h, 5 and 10 days later. The technique was practical and easy to be performed (took approximately 25 minutes). The technique described here was efficient and offers low risk to animal health and provided enough amount of liver tissue for multiple tests. Key words: liver, cattle, buffaloes, laparotomy, hematology, biochemistry. A tecnica de biopsia hepatica em ruminantes tem importante valor no diagnostico clinico de doencas toxicas e metabolicas, em especial nos desequilibrios minerais. As tecnicas mais comumente utilizadas restringem analises devido ao limitado volume de tecido obtido. No presente trabalho, avaliou-se o uso de uma tecnica de biopsia hepatica por laparotomia paracostal em bovinos e bufalos. Foram utilizados 10 bovinos e 10 bufalos higidos. Os animais foram mantidos em estacao, sedados com xilazina e infiltrados localmente com lidocaina e epinefrina. O acesso a cavidade abdominal foi realizado por meio de uma incisao dorso-ventral de 15cm no flanco direito, iniciada ventralmente (cerca de 4-5cm) ao processo transverso da 2a ou 3a vertebra lombar e situada caudalmente (cerca de 4cm) e paralelamente a 13a costela, obtendo-se visualizacao do figado. Foi entao realizado pincamento do bordo caudal do orgao com pinca Doyen para remocao de fragmento hepatico (2 a 4g). Procedeu-se o fechamento da cavidade abdominal como de rotina. Foram analisados os parametros bioquimicos e hematologicos antes do procedimento (tempo zero) e apos 24 hora