Veterinary session

My studies were aimed at retrospective analysis of the medical records of dogs (N=254) and cats (N=32) admitted to the Department of Surgery of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Budapest between 2010 and 2021 with foreign bodies, including esophageal, gastric and small intestinal foreign bodies. I examined the distribution of cases according to several aspects, as well as the path to diagnosis, the mode of therapy, possible complications and adverse events, and outcome.

Sex did not influence the frequency of cases, but age did. In both species, the age group under 3 years had the highest number of individuals. The majority of patients were from Budapest, and the number of cases from further away was inversely related to the distance between the place of residence and the clinic. Patients arrived at the clinic most often in the afternoon. Diagnosis and urgent cases were diagnosed within a few hours. In terms of all foreign bodies, the most frequent was the nasal incidence of false barley (Hordeum murinum) spikes. Several cases of ovarian ligature fistulae were found in female dogs neutered in shelters.

The occurrence of gastrointestinal foreign bodies was highly prevalent among purebred dogs in West Highland White Terriers. The diagnosis of gastrointestinal foreign bodies showed a fluctuating distibution by calendar years and also by months. The values of July and August were outstanding in dogs and October in cats. In both dogs and cats, vomiting was the leading symptom of gastrointestinal foreign bodies. Although ultrasonography was the primarily recommended diagnostic test, radiography was more commonly used. The most frequent finding was gastric foreign body (42%) in dogs and small intestinal foreign body (47%) in cats. In dogs, bony foreign body (41%) was predominant and in cats, linear foreign body (60%) was predominant. The removal of foreign bodies was more often surgical and less often endoscopic. 94% of dogs and 84% of cats recovered. All the patients who died had a serious complication, mostly perforation of the wall of the digestive tract. Severe complications were more frequent in cats, leading to death in each cases. Recurrent ingestion of foreign bodies occurred in 3% of cases in dogs and no recurrent cases in cats.

The results of the study can be used in patient care and practice management, contributing to the optimisation of clinical workflows and increasing success rates.