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Comparison of the effects of xylazine and romifidine administered perioperatively on the recovery of anesthetized horses. The present study was designed to compare recoveries from anesthesia following the use of romifidine or xylazine in horses. In a prospective blind randomized clinical trial, 28 horses, undergoing elective arthroscopy, were randomly allocated into 2 groups. The intravenous anesthesia protocol used in the xylazine group was: butorphanol [0.02 mg/kg body weight (BW)] and xylazine (0.5 to 0.7 mg/kg BW) for premedication, diazepam (0.1 mg/kg BW) and ketamine (2.2 mg/kg BW) for induction, isoflurane in oxygen for maintenance and xylazine (0.1 mg/kg BW) in recovery. The xylazine was replaced with romifidine 0.05 to 0.08 mg/kg BW (premedication) and 0.01 mg/kg BW (recovery) in the romifidine group. The quality of recovery was evaluated with a modified scoring system and the duration recorded. Wilcoxon Ranked Sum test (P < 0.05) was used for statistical analysis. The recovery quality scores and the durations of recovery were not statistically different between the 2 groups. In this study, romifidine and xylazine were equal in their effects on recovery qualities.(Translated by the authors).

Intravenous anesthesia in the horse: Comparison of xylazine-ketamine and xylaxine-tiletamine-zolazepam combinations. Six healthy adult horses were anesthetized twice at random with following intravenous combinations: 1.1 mg/kg of body weight (BW) of xylazine followed by 2.2 mg/kg BW of ketamine (X-K) and 1.1 mg/kg BW of xylazine followed by 1.65 mg/kg BW of tiletamine-zolazepam (X-TZ). The modifications of some cardiorespiratory parameters and the duration of anesthesia were evaluated and compared for the 2 protocols used. Few significant differences were observed between the 2 protocols in regard to the cardiorespiratory parameters measured. The respiratory rate was lower (7 breaths per minute) and the heart rate was higher (34 beats per minute) with the X-TZ combination. The duration of anesthesia with this technique was 33 +/- 3 minutes (X +/- Sx) and longer than with X-K (18 +/- minutes (X +/- Sx)). Superficial analgesia lasted 14,5 +/- 3 minutes with the X-K combination and 31,7 +/- 3,2 minutes for the X-TZ combination. The 2 protocols are associated with a reduction of PaO2.