Cervical esophagectomy of Amazon river turtle Podocnemis expansa Schweigger, 1812 (Testudines – Podocnemididae)

Abstract

This study proposes a technique of cervical esophagectomy Podocnemis expansa, an Amazonian river turtle aquatic habitat. The animals belonging to the Research Laboratory of Wild Animals FAMEV-UFU, were anesthetized with propofol at a dose of 10mg/Kg/IV. The surgical technique consisted of skin incision in the cervical ventral median of about 4cm, removal of the muscles and ventral cervical trachea, incision on the ventral wall of the esophagus and continuous simple suture of the esophagus and muscles and simply separate the skin with absorbable sutures 3 - 0 chrome and nylon 3-0, respectively. Hemoglobin and packed cell volume were measured before and after surgery. The animals were weighed daily and the administration of enrofloxacin at a dose of 5mg/Kg/IM 3 days after surgery. The removal of skin spots occurred with 16 days after surgery. It is concluded that the technique proposed here proved to be effective in its execution, and provided satisfactory recovery of the animals.