ENTERECTOMV. 



91 



ported by Vennerholm ^ and Pauer,'' both being cases in which 

 the foreign body was situated in the rectum. 



Enterectomy and Anastomosis of the Intestine. — In certain 

 cases in which the bowel has become gangrenous or injured, 

 owing usually to the presence of a foreign body or some 

 abnormal growth, the only chance of saving the patient's life 

 depends upon the excision of the diseased portion and the 

 union of the cut ends. This operation, although of course a 

 ver}' serious one, has now regularly taken its place in human 

 surgery, and that it can be successfully performed in healthy 

 dogs and cats has been demonstrated manj^ times. The chief 

 difficulty in veterinary practice seems to be to make a suf- 

 ficiently accurate diagnosis early enough, I.e., before gangrene 

 has set in or the patient has become exhausted. In my own 

 experience the results have not been good, but in each case 



Fig. .is. 

 Bowel clamp (Makin's). 



the patient was very much exhausted when brought for 

 treatment. 



For an enterectomy the preliminary preparations are the 

 same as for laparotomy ; for the intestinal anastomosis careful 

 suturing alone may be done, or resort may be had to certain 

 mechanical aids such as those afforded by cones, discs, buttons, 

 bobbins, etc., made of metal, decalcified bone, carrot, turnip, 



potato, etc. 



The abdomen is opened in the usual way on the median line 

 or flank according to the position of the obstruction, and the 

 offending portion of intestine sought for and withdrawn, being 



1 "Veterinary Record," Vol. X., p. 327. Mayall's Translation. 

 - "Veterinary Record," Vol. XII., p. 110. 



