Surgical interventions and outcome in a population of canine trauma patients

Objective

To determine signalment, injury type, trauma severity score, and outcome of canine trauma patients undergoing surgical (emergency room [ER] or operating room [OR]) and nonsurgical treatment in addition to time to surgery, specialty services involved, and cost in the OR surgery population.

Design

Retrospective evaluation of medical record and hospital trauma registry data on canine trauma cases.

Setting

University teaching hospital.

Animals

One thousand six hundred and thirty dogs presenting for traumatic injury between May 2017 and July 2020.

Interventions

None.

Measurements and Main Results

Demographics and outcome were compared for canine trauma patients undergoing OR surgery (12.8%, 208/1630), ER surgery (39.1%, 637/1630), or no surgical intervention (48.2%, 785/1630). Among the 2 surgical groups, 98.9% (836/845) survived to discharge compared with 92.2% (724/785) of the nonsurgical group (P < 0.0001). The OR surgical group had significantly higher median Animal Trauma Triage scores (2 vs 1, P < 0.0001) and median days in hospital (2 vs < 1, P < 0.0001) compared with the other groups. For the OR surgical cohort, electronic medical records were reviewed to determine the specialty surgery service involved, time to and duration of anesthesia and surgery, and visit cost. The most common surgery services involved were orthopedics (45.2%, 94/208) and general surgery (26.9%, 56/208). Neurology and general surgery cases required the longest median length of stay in hospital, and ophthalmology and dentistry cases required the shortest. The median cost of visit was highest in neurology ($10,032) and lowest in ophthalmology ($2305) and dentistry ($2404).

Conclusions

Surgical intervention in canine trauma patients appears to be associated with higher survival rates, and among the surgery groups, mortality was highest in the ER and general surgery groups. OR surgical intervention, in particular general surgery and neurology, was associated with increased length of hospitalization, increased cost, and higher Animal Trauma Triage scores.