Dr Gerardo Poli Youtube Channel

Knowing how to occlude the intestine to help minimise leakage of intraluminal contents is critical for any surgery that involves entering the intestinal tract.

Despite the fact that most of the intestinal contents accumulate behind the obstructive process there can be fluid in the aboral end of the site of interest that can leak backward. So occluding both the oral and aboral ends is important.

While having your assistant occlude the intestine with their fingers is likely the least traumatic way of occluding the bowel, Doyen clamps (or forceps) or others that serve a similar function are really useful instruments especially when you are doing intestinal surgery by yourself.

The Doyen Forceps have some key design features:
1) Lightweight which minimises the trauma to the intestine
2) Non-crushing flexible blades with a gap in between the blades so they do not completely close when clamping down
3) Longitudinal groves to help stop slipping which minimises the amount of pressure required to keep them in place.

These features help it to occlude the lumen without crushing the intestinal wall.

Here are some tips for using them:
1) When closed the tips of the blades should not close down on or traumatise the blood vessels that are feeding the intestine of interest.
2) When clamping down, only ratchet down enough so that you have occlusion without excessive crushing
3) When manipulating and moving the intestine and/or the clamps be mindful of not traumatising the intestinal blood vessels.
4) When you remove the clamps the impressions left by the grooves should disappear after a couple minutes, if they persist for too long then the clamps may have been applied too tightly, so remember this the next time.

While Doyen clamps can be super useful, you still have to make sure you have protected the rest of the abdomen from spillage with lap sponges.

I hope you found this tip useful and helps you feel more confident using them in the future!

G.

SURGERY TIP 3: TESTING FOR LEAKS! 🤔

Do I test for leaks after closing the intestine? .... Not always

Leak testing is a bit CONTROVERSIAL. 🤔

There isn't any specific association established between leak testing and any risk of leakage in dogs or cats. 🐕😸 I am not saying you should not do it. It may be important when you first start so that you get an idea of how well your intestinal suture placement was, but you have to be careful that you are not generating too much intraluminal pressure.

Mimicking intraluminal pressures generated during normal peristalsis is VERY DIFFICULT. Generally, you occlude a piece of intestine and inject some saline in the lumen and apply pressure to see if it leaks HOWEVER if you want to be more accurate it has been suggested that: 🤓 - Occluding off a 10cm segment of the intestine
- Injecting 12ml of saline
- Via 25g needle into the intestinal lumen
- Without applying extra pressure ....generates approximately the same intraluminal pressures that are generated during normal peristalsis. You could apply GENTLE pressure and if it leaks then apply another suture. If it doesn't then all good. 👍👍 If we generate too much pressure we are actually SQUEEZING FLUID out of the intestinal incision line leading to unnecessary extra suture placement. Correct suture placement is the key and should be the focus, with leak testing as the backup.

If you want to leak test then sure go ahead, I can see the value in doing it, just be mindful about what you are trying to achieve.

Do you test for leaks?
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SURGERY TIP 2: KEEPING THE ABDOMEN STERILE - try a fenestrated drape!

What?? Another drape?... YES!

Let's say you have an intestinal foreign body with a large amount of fluid accumulated behind it.

An additional method of protecting the abdomen from leakage is to use another fenestrated drape on top of your first set of drapes.

You pass the intestinal segment through the fenestration, then pack around the exteriorised intestine with moist lap sponges as per usual.

The combination of the drape which prevents large spillage from entering the abdomen and the lap sponges which absorb any local leakage help to significantly reduce any contamination from gastrointestinal contents spreading to the rest of the abdomen.

At the end, after focal lavage, you slowly remove layer by layer looking for any leakage or abdominal contamination.

Give it a go! 👍

SURGERY TIP 1: HOW BIG DOES AN EX-LAP INCISION NEED TO BE?😷 I am a firm believer that the incision must extend from the xiphoid to the pubis. The reason being is that you need to be able to assess all the organs and palpate the entire gastrointestinal tract from the stomach to the colon.

Just because you see a rock on radiographs doesn't necessarily mean that is the only pathology present. There could be: - Two foreign bodies eg. one in the stomach that you can't see on with imagery
- Pathology in another organ eg. spleen or liver mass, pancreatitis etc.
You definitely can't assess all the organs properly if the incision you make is only half the length of the xiphoid to pubis. 🤓

I have seen the consequences of small ex-lap incisions:
- Missed second foreign body
- Longer surgery times and trauma to organs trying to work through small incisions with limited access to organs, one of my own cases several years ago where I caused a splenic mass to bleed more as I tried to pull it through an incision that was in hindsight, too small.

I get it might take longer to close the abdomen, but I would rather make sure I visualise and assess everything rather than miss something AND have the appropriate space and exposure to properly do what I need to do.

Nothing is more satisfying than watching your patient wake up from a procedure smoothly. Postoperatively, I always make sure the patient is covered with appropriate levels of pain relief and often opt for multimodal analgesia.
When it comes to wound healing, it occurs ‘cut edge to cut edge’ so from side-to-side, not from one end to one end. This means that an incision line that is 10cm long will heal in the same time as one that is 5cm long, so why not make it easier for yourself, and allow yourself the working space to do a thorough job.

Tip: Always warn owners how long the incisions will be before going to surgery and then again when they come down for a visit as it can be a shock to them as they are often used to keyhole incisions.

Comment and share to your friends if you found this useful!👍

This is the first of a series of VLOGS where I take you along a weekend at work. First, we tackle a Fussy Puppy on live talkback radio that is streamed across Queensland. I also learned the secret lingo of cat owners. Provided clinical advice on a lung ultrasound video from a case that @drbrookschampers was managing at @perthvetemergency. Enjoy!

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Step by step process on how to perform a TFAST.