Give second colic surgeries a chance

“Repeat Colic Surgeries Spell Trouble” (Medical Front, EQUUS 456) captures the essence of the recent publication on repeat colic surgeries very well, including the same level of pessimism. The conclusions are correct, that only 23.9 percent of horses were still alive at six months after discharge from the hospital. However, none of those horses would have survived if they had not had a repeat colic surgery, and some survivors were still alive many years after surgery.

The reason that most if not all horses need a second surgery is because the first one failed in some respect, and the horses’ postoperative course reaches a point where it either needs a second surgery or needs to be humanely euthanized. Your readers should also be aware that there are reports in the veterinary literature that describe higher success rates after repeat colic surgeries. Not all repeat colic surgeries are the same, and it is difficult to distinguish between the different types in the paper you mention and how that relates