Laparoscopic repair of a small intestinal mesenteric rent in a broodmare.

Summary

# Laparoscopic Repair of Mesoduodenal Rent in Standing Horse Mesoduodenal rents—tears in the mesentery suspending the duodenum—present a particular surgical challenge when located dorsally, as they cannot be accessed through the standard ventral midline approach used in colic surgery. Sutter and Hardy documented a novel standing laparoscopic technique to repair such a defect in a 6-year-old Thoroughbred broodmare that had undergone initial surgery for right dorsal displacement of the colon with concurrent small intestinal incarceration; two days later, bilateral flank laparoscopy identified the mesoduodenal rent, which was then successfully repaired from the right flank portal using haemostatic clips for tissue approximation. The mare remained free from further complications or abdominal pain signs throughout the following year, demonstrating both the technical feasibility and clinical efficacy of the approach. This case illustrates that standing laparoscopic repair offers equine surgeons a valuable alternative for managing dorsal mesenteric defects that would otherwise require re-entry via celiotomy or remain unrepaired, potentially reducing post-operative morbidity through minimally invasive intervention in the standing patient. For practitioners involved in surgical referrals or post-operative management, awareness of this technique may alter decision-making when encountering cases with anatomically inaccessible mesenteric pathology.

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Key Findings

• •Standing laparoscopic repair of mesoduodenal rent was successfully achieved using hemostatic clips in a standing horse
• •No complications or recurrent abdominal pain occurred in the year following laparoscopic mesenteric repair
• •Laparoscopic approach allowed repair of a mesenteric defect inaccessible via ventral median celiotomy

Conditions Studied