4.2 Surgical patients
The closed inguinal castration procedure was performed on 51 colts and
stallions (34 Warm bloods, 8 Ponies, 6 Standardbreds, 2 Quarter horses
and 1 Thoroughbred) admitted as routine patients to be castrated with
full consent of the owners. Mean age of the horses was 3.6 years,
ranging from 0.8 years to 19.7 years (Fig.2).
4.3 Serum Amyloid A measurements
Serum was taken from the patients prior to surgery for estimating their
basic SAA level. A second probe was taken on the third day after
surgery. The SAA levels were measured photometrically by a certified
commercial veterinary laboratory (SYNLAB, Leverkusen, GE). Detection
level of the method was 3 mg/l. All values <3 mg/l were
considered to be negative but were given the value 2 mg/l for
calculation reasons.