title: Assessment of the excretion time of electronic capsules placed in the intestinal lumen of cows with cecal dilatation-dislocation, healthy control cows, and cows with left displacement of the abomasum.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the transit time from various locations in the intestines of cows with cecal dilatation-dislocation (CDD), healthy control cows, and cows with left displacement of the abomasum (LDA).
  
  
  METHODS
  15 cows with naturally occurring CDD (group 1), 14 healthy control cows (group 2), and 18 cows with LDA (group 3).
  
  
  METHODS
  5 electronic transmitters were encased in capsules and placed in the lumen of the ileum, cecum, proximal portion of the colon, and 2 locations in the spiral colon (colon 1 and colon 2) and used to measure the transit time (ie, time between placement in the lumen and excretion of the capsules from the rectum). Excretion time of the capsules from each intestinal segment was compared among groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cows recovered well from surgery, except for 1 cow with relapse of CDD 4 days after surgery and 2 cows with incisional infection. High variability in capsule excretion times was observed for all examined intestinal segments in all groups. Significant differences were detected for the excretion time from the colon (greater in cows with CDD than in healthy control cows) and cecum (less in cows with LDA than in cows of the other 2 groups).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The technique developed to measure excretion time of capsules from bovine intestines was safe and reliable; however, the large variability observed for all intestinal segments and all groups would appear to be a limitation for its use in assessment of intestinal transit time of cattle in future studies.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Ruminants, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Berne, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: David J-A L
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Devaux
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lempen
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schelling
authors.forename: Volker M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Mireille
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meylan
mesh_terms: D000018:Abomasum / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D000818:Animals; D002214:Capsules / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002429:Cecal Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D003612:Dairying; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D002214:Capsules