From a Science Week Session with Dr Tania Banks.
You know when you look at a radiograph of a constipated cat and think, ‘that’s a lot of poop!’? Well, did you know that you can make a good prediction about future outcomes and treatment recommendations based on a simple radiological measurement? Here’s how:
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Compare the maximum colon diameter (i.e., where the turd is at its widest) on the lateral view to the length of the vertebral body of L5. If the colon is more than one and a half times wider than the length of L5, it’s a good predictor that your patient has megacolon.
Like this:
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This means that the cat will almost certainly have ongoing issues, and that a chat about surgery is a good idea.
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Oh, and surgery (subtotal colectomy) has much better outcomes than I realised: 10% complication rate, with 2/3 of patients having no recurrence of signs when the procedure is done by a specialist.
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