Failure of calcium channel blockade to prevent intra-abdominal adhesions in ponies

Intra-abdominal adhesions were created by localized serosal trauma in 11 adult ponies at three locations on the small intestine. Six ponies received verapamil hydrochloride (0.2 mg/kg) subcutaneously every eight hours for three days, and five ponies received an equal volume of saline solution at the same intervals. The investigators were not informed which treatments the ponies received. Systolic, diastolic, and mean carotid arterial pressures and heart rates were measured six hours before surgery, and then 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 8 hours after the first treatment on each day for three days. One pony was euthanatized on day 13 because of colic, and the other 10 ponies were euthanatized 14 days after surgery. Scoring methods were used to assess the severity of adhesion formation and to grade the histologic appearance of the abraded sites. No significant differences were found for rectal temperature, packed cell volume, total plasma proteins, heart rate, and systolic, diastolic, or mean arterial pressures between control and verapamil-treated ponies. No significant differences were detected between the treatment groups for adhesion scores per abraded site, total adhesion scores per pony, the total number of adhesions per pony, or in the histologic scores.