Surgery
The Section of Surgery provides sophisticated services utilizing techniques such as arthroscopy, endoscopy, laparoscopy, laser and cryo-surgery. Widener Hospital’s surgical suite in the C. Mahlon Kline Orthopedic & Rehabilitation Center has state-of-the-art equipment for complex fracture repair and special air handling capabilities to minimize surgical site contamination. The hospital’s expertise in equine orthopedic surgery is enhanced by its unique pool recovery system, first implemented at Widener Hospital for Large Animals by one of equine surgery’s leading pioneers and innovators, Dr. Jacques Jenny. With this system, which has been successfully used for 30 years, horses with serious fractures can safely recover from general anesthesia. Horses awaken suspended in a large rubber raft floating in a heated pool. When fully awake, the horse is lifted out of the pool to a standing position so that it never has to struggle to rise to its feet, thus avoiding further injury.
Widener Hospital’s outpatient surgery is equipped with state-of-the-art video-endoscopes for examination of the upper and lower respiratory tract, esophagus and stomach. Many procedures previously requiring general anesthesia and prolonged hospitalization can now be done on an outpatient basis under sedation and local anesthesia.
Working together with the Section of Emergency, Critical Care and Anesthesia, Widener Hospital surgeons are leveraging advancements in the management of horses with colic to save them from life-threatening abdominal diseases.