Critical Care and Abdominal Surgery

Research in this area focuses on advancements in the field of emergency medicine and surgery in the horse. The goals are to improve upon current therapies and monitoring methods to shorten recovery times and improve survival in our critically ill patients.

Reid Hanson, DVM, MS, DACVS, DACVECC, director of the equine surgical residency program and director of the equine critical care fellowship program. My research interests include development of exciting and novel diagnostic techniques such as surgical evaluation of equine joints with microarthroscopy and natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES). We have recently published the first paper outlining the NOTES procedure in horses and hope to further develop this exciting, new technology. I also collaborate with research in the acute abdomen with examination of compartment syndrome of the equine abdomen leading to altered abdominal pressures. 

Amelia Munsterman, DVM, MS, DACVS, DACVECC: At this time, my main research interest lies in the improvement of monitoring horses suffering from colic.  I have developed and published a method to measure the pressure in the abdominal space, similar to monitoring used in human ICUs.  By tracking these pressures over time, it may be possible to avoid abdominal surgery, or allow for rapid intervention by the veterinarian to reduce mortality caused by multiple types of colic. Future research will center on the effects of this increased abdominal pressure on multiple body systems and organs, including the kidneys, heart and brain. 

Other researchers in critical care and abdominal surgery: Allison Stewart, Jennifer Taintor,John Schumacher