The present study was conducted to evaluate and compare the efficacy and postoperative complications of ultrasound-guided keyhole tube cystostomy (KHTC) and open surgical tube cystostomy (OSTC) for the management of obstructive urolithiasis in buffalo calves with an intact urinary bladder. Eighty-four calves were randomly divided into two groups: KHTC (n = 42) and OSTC (n = 42). Diagnosis was based on clinical signs, radiography, and ultrasonography. Most cases involved intact male calves aged 3–5 months and were associated with seasonal variation and high-phosphorus diets. Reduced water intake and high dietary phosphorus were identified as major predisposing factors. All surgeries were performed under lumbosacral epidural anesthesia using 2% lignocaine. The mean surgical time was significantly shorter (p 0.05) in ultrasound-guided KHTC (11.22 ± 3 min) compared to OSTC (25.90 ± 4 min). Although postoperative complications such as catheter blockage (9.7% vs 19.5%), wound abscess (4.8% vs 19.5%), and catheter dislodgement (7.3% vs 12.2%) were numerically lower in the KHTC group, the differences were not statistically significant. Return to normal urination occurred significantly earlier (p 0.05) in ultrasound-guided KHTC (8.439 days) than in OSTC (11.88 days). The findings indicate that ultrasound-guided KHTC is a minimally invasive and time-efficient technique with faster recovery; however, its advantage over OSTC in terms of postoperative complications could not be statistically confirmed.
Kumar et al. (Mon,) studied this question.