Serum cortisol of Sahel goats following rumenotomy with assorted anaesthetics and sutures

The utmost need for pragmatic combination of surgical sutures and local anaesthetic that would evoke minimal post-surgical stress response and allow uncomplicated healing is essential for successful surgeries. Fifteen Sahel goats were randomly allocated into three groups A, B and C to quantitatively assay (ELISA) serum cortisol profiles following rumenotomy, as markers of surgical stress. Diazepam at 0.2 mg/kg was administered intravenously to groups A and B with subsequent lidocaine HCl and bupivacaine inverted-L block respectively. Group C did not receive any treatment. Chromic catgut (CCG) and polyglycolic acid (PGA) sutures were used for rumen and abdominal muscles closure for groups A and B respectively and nylon for skin closure. Blood samples were taken at post anaesthetic induction (PAI) and post-surgery at 0, 5, 8, 24, 48 and 72 h. The Group A goats expressed serum cortisol that was significantly high 52.76 ± 6.12 ng/mL at 5 h post-surgery. At 8 h post-surgery serum cortisol for both groups A (72.53 ± 3.79 ng/mL) and B (61.59 ± 3.90 ng/mL) were at their peak. Serum cortisol levels compared to the baseline data were significantly different (P < 0.05) at 5, 24, and 48 h for the CCG goats. The serum cortisol levels at 72 h drastically decreased to 20.53 ± 8.74 ng/mL for groups A and 17.59 ± 2.45 ng/mL for group B and were not significantly different (p > 0.05). Cortisol responses unambiguously indicate that diazepam-bupivacaine induce less stress than Diazepam-lidocaine, hence a preferred anesthesia. Moreover, polyglycolic acid sutures are associated with less inflammatory reaction than chromic catgut.