BCSE Veterinary Surgical Principles 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A dog is scheduled for a gastrointestinal foreign body removal. Which preoperative finding most strongly indicates the need for urgent surgery rather than medical management?
- Vomiting for 12 hours
- Radiographic evidence of free abdominal gas (Correct answer)
- Mild elevation in blood urea nitrogen
- Presence of the object in the stomach
Correct answer: Radiographic evidence of free abdominal gas
Free abdominal gas on radiographs indicates gastrointestinal perforation and is a surgical emergency requiring immediate intervention.
Question 2: Which of the following is the correct sequence for the proper surgical scrub of the patient's skin?
- Scrub from the periphery toward the incision site
- Scrub in a circular motion from the incision site outward, discarding each sponge after reaching the periphery (Correct answer)
- Use a single sponge for the entire scrub area
- Apply iodine solution without mechanical scrubbing
Correct answer: Scrub in a circular motion from the incision site outward, discarding each sponge after reaching the periphery
The aseptic scrub technique requires starting at the incision site and moving outward in concentric circles, discarding the sponge once the periphery is reached to avoid recontaminating the center.
Question 3: What is the primary advantage of using an absorbable monofilament suture such as poliglecaprone 25 (Monocryl) in subcuticular skin closure?
- It provides permanent support
- It eliminates the need for suture removal and reduces tissue drag (Correct answer)
- It has the highest tensile strength of all sutures
- It resists infection better than multifilament sutures in all tissues
Correct answer: It eliminates the need for suture removal and reduces tissue drag
Monofilament absorbable sutures like poliglecaprone 25 have minimal capillary action, reduce tissue drag, and are absorbed so suture removal is unnecessary.
Question 4: During a splenectomy, which vessel must be carefully identified and ligated to avoid inadvertent injury to the pancreas?
- Left gastric artery
- Short gastric vessels and left gastroepiploic artery near the splenic hilus (Correct answer)
- Right gastroepiploic artery
- Celiac artery
Correct answer: Short gastric vessels and left gastroepiploic artery near the splenic hilus
The short gastric vessels and left gastroepiploic artery run near the splenic hilus in close proximity to the pancreatic tail, requiring careful dissection to avoid pancreatitis.
Question 5: Which postoperative complication is most commonly associated with inadequate dead space elimination during wound closure?
- Wound dehiscence due to suture failure
- Seroma formation (Correct answer)
- Incisional hernia
- Wound contracture
Correct answer: Seroma formation
Dead space allows fluid accumulation, leading to seroma formation; eliminating dead space with subcutaneous sutures or drainage reduces this risk.
Question 6: A patient under isoflurane anesthesia develops acute hypotension. After ruling out anesthetic depth as a cause, which intervention is the FIRST-LINE treatment?
- Administer dopamine infusion
- Administer an intravenous crystalloid fluid bolus (Correct answer)
- Decrease the inspired oxygen concentration
- Administer furosemide
Correct answer: Administer an intravenous crystalloid fluid bolus
Intravenous fluid bolus is the first-line response to anesthetic-related hypotension to restore preload and cardiac output before using vasopressors.
Question 7: Which of the following wound closure materials would be CONTRAINDICATED in a contaminated or infected wound?
- Poliglecaprone 25 (monofilament absorbable)
- Polydioxanone (PDS)
- Braided multifilament suture such as polyglactin 910 placed in the wound bed (Correct answer)
- Nylon monofilament
Correct answer: Braided multifilament suture such as polyglactin 910 placed in the wound bed
Braided multifilament sutures have capillary action that harbors bacteria, making them contraindicated in infected or heavily contaminated wound beds.
BCSE Veterinary Surgical Principles 3
A dog is scheduled for a gastrointestinal foreign body removal.
Which preoperative finding most strongly indicates the need for urgent surgery rather than medical management?