Comparison of duodenitis/proximal jejunitis and small intestinal obstruction in horses: 68 Cases (1977-1985)

Summary Sixty-eight horses with colic caused by small intestinal disease were allotted into 2 groups of 34 on the basis of recorded findings during exploratory celiotomy, necropsy, or response to medical treatment alone. Signalment, history, physical examination findings, and laboratory findings were compared between the group of horses with small intestinal obstruction and the group with duodenitis/proximal jejunitis. A significantly greater proportion of horses with duodenitis/proximal jejunitis were older than 2 years old (P < 0.05). Differences in sex or breed distribution, or in seasonality of the 2 disease syndromes were not observed. Horses with duodenitis/proximal jejunitis had significantly greater signs of depression than those with small intestinal obstruction (P < 0.01), and horses with small intestinal obstruction had significantly greater signs of abdominal pain (P < 0.05). The mean heart and respiratory rates were significantly lower (P < 0.01) and the volume of nasogastric reflux was significantly greater (P < 0.05) in the group of horses with duodenitis/proximal jejunitis. Sections of small intestine that were palpable per rectum were less distended and there were more auscultable borborygmi in horses with duodenitis/proximal jejunitis, compared with those with small intestinal obstruction (P <0.05) and (P < 0.01). The group of horses with duodenitis/proximal jejunitis had lower mean plasma potassium and higher mean plasma bicarbonate concentrations (P < 0.05) than the group with small intestinal obstruction. The mean nucleated cell count and total protein concentration of peritoneal fluid specimens were significantly less in the group with duodenitis/proximal jejunitis (P < 0.01); however, these values were greater than normal. The proportion of the group having the ratio of peritoneal fluid nucleated cell count to total protein concentration (ncc:tp) ≤3 was significantly greater in horses with duodenitis/proximal jejunitis (P < 0.05). Though several physical and laboratory values differed between the groups of horses with small intestinal obstruction and duodenitis/proximal jejunitis, a single value or group of values could not help definitively differentiate a horse with duodenitis/proximal jejunitis from one with small intestinal obstruction.