Comparative evaluation of sedative and anti-nociceptive effects of epidural romifidine, romifidine-lidocaine, and lidocaine in donkeys (Equus asinus)

Background

Local and regional anesthetic procedures are valuable tools in veterinary practice. Caudal epidural administration of local anesthetic agents is widely reported for surgical interventions of the tail, anus, rectum, vulva, vagina, urethra, and bladder in the standing horse. Epidural analgesia is also obtained using various drugs such as alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists, dissociative anesthetics, and opioids. The present study evaluates the anti-nociceptive and sedative effects of epidural administration of romifidine, a romifidine-lidocaine combination, and lidocaine alone in donkeys.

Materials and methods

In a randomized prospective study, twenty-four healthy adult donkeys were assigned to four groups (three experimental and one control; n = 6) received either 50 μg/kg of romifidine, 0.30 mg/kg of lidocaine, combined romifidine (50 μg/kg) and lidocaine (0.30 mg/kg) diluted in 0.9% sterile normal saline solution to a total injection volume of 12 ml, or an equivalent volume of sterile saline epidurally. After epidural injection of each treatment, the onset, degree, and duration of sedation and anatomical extension of anti-nociception were documented. Observations began immediately (time 0) pre-administration and at 5, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 30-min intervals subsequently until 210 min after drug injection. Time to onset of perineal analgesia was documented every minute after the epidural injection by evaluating the animal's response to pinpricks.

Results

Only romifidine and romifidine-lidocaine induced mild to moderate sedation. Romifidine, romifidine-lidocaine, and lidocaine induced complete bilateral caudal epidural analgesia with loss of sensation in the perineum, tail, inguinal region, caudal aspect of the upper hind limb, chest areas, and extended distally to the dorsal metatarsal area. Sedation lasted longer (p < 0.05) with romifidine (160 ± 15.4 min) than with romifidine-lidocaine (141.6 ± 13.2 min). Longer-lasting analgesia (p < 0.05) was obtained with romifidine (158.3 ± 9.8 min) and romifidine-lidocaine (165 ± 9.4 min) than with lidocaine (75.8 ± 8 min).

Conclusions

Epidural administration of a single dose of romifidine or a combination of romifidine-lidocaine produced mild to moderate sedation and complete anti-nociception in the perineal and inguinal regions of donkeys. The clinical usefulness of epidural romifidine or romifidine-lidocaine combinations to perform obstetric procedures in donkeys needs to be assessed.

Comparative Study of the Sedative and Anti-nociceptive Effects of Sacrococcygeal Epidural Administration of Romifidine, Lidocaine, and Romifidine/Lidocaine in the Dromedary Camel

In a randomized prospective study, comparative sedative and anti-nociceptive effects of epidural administration of romifidine (RO), lidocaine (LD), and a combination of romifidine-lidocaine (ROLD) in camel were evaluated. Eighteen healthy adult dromedary camels were assigned randomly to three treatment groups (n = 6), each receiving 50 μg/kg of RO, 0.30 mg/kg of LD, or a combination of both RO and LD. All treatments were expanded in 0.9% sterile normal saline solution to a final dose volume of 20 ml and administered directly into the sacrococcygeal space. After epidural injection of each treatment, the onset time, duration, anatomical extension of anti-nociception, and sedation were documented. Anti-nociception was tested at different areas using a pinprick test and artery forceps pinching at the perineum and inguinal area. RO and ROLD treatments resulted in mild to severe sedation and complete bilateral analgesia with loss of sensation in the tail, perineum, scrotum in males, vulva in females, the caudal aspect skin of the upper hind limb, and inguinal region (udder in females and the prepuce in males). The anatomic extent of anti-nociception reached the chest cranially and the footpad distally. Camels who received LD showed the shortest duration (P &lt; 0.001) to the onset of perineal anti-nociception (3.67 ± 0.33 min) followed by those who received RO LD (4.00 ± 0.37 min) and RO (6.67 ± 0.33 min), respectively. RO and ROLD resulted in significantly (P &lt; 0.001) longer periods of analgesia (158.33 ± 4.01 min and 165 ± 3.87 min, respectively) than LD (75.83 ± 3.27). An epidural RO and ROLD would appear to produce a very effective and acceptable anti-nociceptive effect in the perineal and inguinal regions of camels.

A Descriptive Study of the Carpal Joint of Healthy Donkeys Using Ultrasonography, Computed Tomography, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging

This study was conducted to establish a detailed anatomic reference for the carpal joint of apparently healthy donkeys using ultrasonography (US), computed tomographic (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Ten orthopedically sound adult donkeys were used for US examination of the carpal joint in each forelimb. Additionally, the carpi of ten donkey cadavers were subjected to CT and MRI examinations. The carpal joint was divided into four zones to simplify examination. US assessment of the carpal joint included transverse and longitudinal sonograms. CT was performed using three planes: axial, sagittal, and coronal. MRI was performed using axial and sagittal planes with two sequences: gradient-echo T1-weighted and proton density. The donkeys’ carpus US, CT, and MRI images were labeled and serially interpreted based on references and anatomical cross-sections. The anatomical characteristics of the carpal joint and the surrounding soft tissue structures were thoroughly described and precisely differentiated on US, CT, and MRI scans. It can be concluded that US, CT, and MRI are effective noninvasive diagnostic imaging tools for evaluating the carpal joint in donkeys. Moreover, these imaging modalities can aid in establishing a reference database for the carpal joint of donkeys, which differs from that of horses.

Prevalence and potential risk factors of hypocalcaemia in dairy cows during transition period at Northern Egypt

Objective: To identify the most prevalent diseases of transition period in dairy cows and to highlight on risk factors supposed to play a crucial role in the prevalence of hypocalcaemia. Design: Case-control study Animals: 179 transition dairy cows belonged to five farms. Procedures: Clinical examination and serum analyses were the key to diagnose the transition disorders in the investigated cows. Cutoff points for serum analytes (Ca, Ph, Mg, PTH, glucose, K, Na and Cl) were set. A questionnaire was constructed to identify the possible risk factors associated with hypocalcaemia on both farm level and cow level. Results: Frequency test revealed the prevalence of hypocalcaemia to be (48.04%), hypophosphatemia (40.22%), hypomagnesaemia (33.52%) hypoglycemia (29.05%), hypokalemia (58.1%), clinical ketosis (5.59%) and abomasal displacement (1.12%). Moreover, prevalence of post parturient septic metritis was (26.81%), retained placenta (23.46%) and clinical mastitis was (18.99%). Generally, hypocalcaemia was significantly associated with other concurrent diseases (P ≤ 0.05). Levels of serum PTH, glucose, K and Na were significantly related to occurrence of hypocalcaemia with p values: 0.006, 0.001, 0.019 and 0.001, respectively. Impact of diet, housing criteria and periodical health monitoring by metabolic profile test were found to affect significantly on incidence of hypocalcaemia on farm level with p value ≤ 0.008 for all. On cow level, age of cows, parity, body condition score, stage of transition period, daily milk yield and previous transition period disorders were found to have a significant effect on occurrence of hypocalcaemia at p value ≤ 0.001 for each item. Conclusion and clinical relevance: Results of the current study point toward the importance of usual monitoring of transition period disorders in dairy cows, besides identifying potential risks and consequences of hypocalcaemia in an attempt to construct control measures for them, that in-turn would increase dairy herd profitability.