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were clinically examined twice a day by a veterinarian for 3 days for p.o. clinical signs of surgical complications such as body tempera- ture (if tolerated), heart and respiratory rate, oedema of scrotum or prepuce, swelling and disruption or drainage of the skin wound. Judgement of p.o. posture, facial expression (Dalla Costa et al., 2014 ) and behaviour indicating possible discomfort or pain were made by a veterinarian and by a skilled and experienced groom throughout the day. Horses showing discomfort or signs of infections were treated as required. Horses without clinical symptoms of surgical site complica- tions or any sign of illness or trauma were discharged on day three. Owners were instructed to keep stall rest and hand walking the horse for 5 days, urging the responsible horse- keeper to inform the authors about any possible sign of a complication. The horses resumed train- ing (riding or driving) or were turned out in a small paddock about 1 week after surgery.
Statistical analysis
FIGURE 1 An exteriorised right vaginal process is held by an assistant. The impression of the Sand emasculator, visible just distal to the skin incision, will be the site of a compressive ligature which also closes the vaginal process. Note the increasing diameter of the vaginal process towards the testis resulting from the development of the plexis pampiniformis.
close the skin by a continuous intradermal suture. The closed skin was sealed by a sterile wound spray (CE 0124, Beiersdorf).
Serum amyloid A measurements
Serum was taken from the patients prior to surgery for estimating their basic SAA level. A second sample was taken on the third day (70–74 h) after surgery. The paired pre- and p.o. samples were stored in a refrigerator, and the samples of several horses were once a week sent to a certified commercial veterinary laboratory (SYNLAB). The SAA levels were measured photometrically with a detection level of the method being 3 mg/L. All values <3 mg/L were considered to be negative but were given the maximum value of 2 mg/L for calcula- tion reasons. Inflammatory markers other than SAA, that is, total nu- clear cell count, iron, fibrinogen or total protein, were not included in this study as they had been proven to be less sensitive or less related to clinical symptoms and were reported less consistently in the four referred studies on inflammatory response in field castrations.
Post- operative management
Anti- bacterial and anti- inflammatory treatments either intra- or p.o. were not applied routinely, but only on indication. The horses were carefully checked for possible trauma from the recovery. All horses
Data were tested for normally distribution using Kolmogorov– Smirnov Test. Possible correlations between SAA, age and weight of removed tis-
sue were tested either using the variance analysis for normally distrib- uted data or using the non- parametric Jonckheere- Terpstra test for not normally distributed data. Possible cross- correlations were tested using the Spearman ρ test. The significance of differences between the result- ing mean SAA values from this study and the mean SAA values derived from literature for field castrations was tested using a paired t - test. The effect size statistic Cohen ' s d was calculated as a measure of relevance of the tested differences in third- day SAA between the closed inguinal cas- tration and the field castrations reported in the literature. Where appli- cable, significance was tested two- sided at a significance level of p ≤ 0.05.
RESULTS
The castration procedure was performed on 51 colts and stallions (34 Warmbloods, 8 ponies, 6 Standardbreds, 2 Quarter Horses and 1 Thoroughbred). The mean age of the horses was 3.6 years (0.8– 19.7 years, Figure 2 ). Mean time in anaesthesia was 43.7 min (28– 59 min). The mean surgical time was 20.2 min (16–28 min). Recovery time for standing stable and walking ranged from 5 to 35 min; all horses recovered without detectible trauma. Forty- eight
horses tested negative (SAA < 3 mg/L) pre-
operatively. Two ponies and one Standardbred showed a pre- operative SAA level of 5, 7 and 75 mg/L, respectively, with p.o. values of 30, 22 and 514 mg/L. Fifty patients recovered from sur- gery without showing clinical signs of surgical site complications. One pony needed dart sedation and was diagnosed on the table to be a unilateral cryptorchid. One horse showed a unilateral incisional infection on day three after surgery. P.o. SAA values ranged from 2 (<3) to 1150 mg/L (Figure 3 ). The mean value of p.o. SAA was 94 mg/L. For analysis purposes, the
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