Abstract
Surgical lateralisation of the left carotid artery (LLCA) is frequently used to allow easy access to direct (invasive) arterial blood pressure and blood gas measurement in experimental settings. An experimental study was conducted in 15 dromedary camels of 2-12; average 4.9 +/- 2.6 years and weighing 250-480, average 375.4 +/- 74.3 kg. Animals were divided into 3 groups receiving one of 3 different surgical lateralization techniques. In group 1, the carotid was exposed over a continuous suture bed and covered with a wide skin flap. In group 2, a tunnel was made at the ventral part of skin flap to pass and cover the carotid artery. In Group 3, the carotid artery was loosely inserted subcutaneously between the sternocephalic and intertransverse muscles and held through a loop of non-absorbable suture material protruding with its free ends over the incision line to allow easier localisation and gentle grasping of the artery during experiment. Animals were observed for 7 days and any abnormalities noted. Base echocardiography was performed before collection of samples. Arterial and venous samples were collected twice from each group. Five animals died at variable period after the operations, Thrombosis in 4 animals (2 from group I and 2 from group II) was noted, and Post-mortem angiographaphy in one camel showed cerebral ischaemia.