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.