Willow with Dr. Meghan Wanstrath and Dr. Anje Bauch.

It’s blue skies now for Willow, a Thoroughbred who came to the UF Large Animal Hospital in December needing emergency treatment for colic. She was diagnosed with a type of colic known as a nephrosplenic entrapment, where the left side of the colon becomes stuck between the spleen and the kidney. Medical therapy was attempted over the next several days but without success. Surgical correction of this condition usually requires putting the horse under general anesthesia, but for various reasons, that was not an option in Willow’s case.

Instead, UF’s large animal surgery team, including Anje Bauck, D.V.M., Ph.D., David Freeman, M.V.B., Ph.D., and Meghan Wanstrath, D.V.M., performed standing surgery on Willow using a combination of techniques that included a specialized surgical trocar, enabling them to directly visualize her spleen and kidney. They were then able to fix Willow’s displaced colon through her flank. At the same time, the surgeons performed a procedure to help prevent recurrence, so Willow won’t have this type of colic again.

“The procedure can be technically challenging and not every case of nephrosplenic entrapment would be a candidate for this type of surgery,” Bauck said. “However, our team felt that Willow would be a good patient to attempt this procedure on, so we wanted to try. It was an interesting teaching case, and we’re all grateful that she had such a good outcome.”

Willow’s treatment was made possible with funding from the Boone Samaritan Fund.