Systematic review and meta-analysis finds minimally invasive abomasal displacement surgery lowers mortality in dairy cattle, indicating benefits remain unconfirmed by randomized trials.
Key Points
To compare the effectiveness and operative efficiency of open versus minimally invasive surgical approaches for managing abomasal displacement in dairy cattle.
Systematic review and meta-analysis following PRISMA guidelines searching PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science through May 2025.
Included 10 comparative studies (3 randomized controlled trials and 7 nonrandomized studies) evaluating 2900 dairy cows with abomasal displacement.
Calculated risk ratios (RR) and mean differences (MD) using random-effects models in RevMan to evaluate mortality, operative time, recurrence, complications, and milk yield.
Pooled analysis of all 10 studies showed minimally invasive surgery was associated with lower mortality (RR = 0.65; 95% CI 0.50-0.84; p = .001) and higher postoperative milk yield (MD = 1.76 kg/day; 95% CI 1.31-2.22; p < .00001).
Sensitivity analysis limited to the 3 randomized controlled trials found no mortality difference between surgical approaches (RR = 1.27; 95% CI 0.39-4.07; p = .69).
Operative time, recurrence rates, and postoperative complications did not significantly differ between open and minimally invasive techniques.