Equine peri-anaesthetic mortality and morbidity are of interest to anaesthetists, practitioners, horse owners and insurance companies. The largest prospective study, ‘The Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Equine Fatalities’ (CEPEF) was conducted more than 20 years ago. It included over 40,000 horses from multiple centres and reported mortality to be 1.9% that decreased to 0.9% when only elective cases were considered. This is in stark contrast to mortality rates in small animal (dogs: 0.17%, cats: 0.24%) and human anaesthesia (0.04–7/10,000). In spite of developments in understanding the pathophysiology of equine anaesthesia mortality has not decreased in the intervening years. The main contributors to peri-anaesthetic equine mortality are cardiac arrest, fractures and myopathy or neuropathy. Spinal cord myelopathy and cerebral necrosis are less common. Malignant hyperthermia and hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis are diseases associated with genetic mutations that can be triggered during general anaesthesia and may be fatal if not recognised and treated immediately. Morbidities are reported less frequently, presumably because often they do not cause permanent harm and may resolve within a short period of time. Complications in equine anaesthesia are numerous and include injuries at induction and recovery, damage to the airway associated with orotracheal or nasotracheal intubation, post-anaesthetic myopathy or neuropathy, regurgitation and aspiration of stomach contents, ocular injuries and complications associated with intravascular cannulation. Hypotension, hypoventilation, hypoxaemia, hypothermia and dysrhythmias may occur both during the maintenance phase of anaesthesia but also in recovery. Airway obstruction during recovery has repeatedly been reported over the years as causing pulmonary oedema, which is often fatal if the airway is not restored extremely quickly. This review summarises the literature on the risk of mortality and morbidity. Information has been gathered from single case reports as well as larger research studies.

中文翻译：

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马麻醉中的死亡率和发病率

马的围麻醉期死亡率和发病率是麻醉师、从业者、马主和保险公司感兴趣的。最大的前瞻性研究“围手术期马死亡率的机密调查”（CEPEF）于 20 多年前进行。它包括来自多个中心的 40,000 多匹马，报告的死亡率为 1.9%，当仅考虑选择性病例时，死亡率降至 0.9%。这与小动物（狗：0.17%，猫：0.24%）和人类麻醉（0.04-7/10,000）的死亡率形成鲜明对比。尽管在了解马麻醉的病理生理学方面取得了进展，但近年来死亡率并没有下降。围麻醉期马死亡率的主要贡献者是心脏骤停、骨折和肌病或神经病。脊髓脊髓病和脑坏死不太常见。恶性高热和高钾性周期性麻痹是与基因突变相关的疾病，可在全身麻醉期间触发，如果不立即识别和治疗，可能会致命。发病率较低，可能是因为它们通常不会造成永久性伤害，并且可能会在短时间内解决。马麻醉的并发症很多，包括诱导和恢复时的损伤、与经口气管或鼻气管插管相关的气道损伤、麻醉后肌病或神经病、胃内容物的反流和误吸、眼部损伤以及与血管内插管相关的并发症。低血压、低通气、低氧血症、体温过低和心律失常既可能发生在麻醉的维持阶段，也可能发生在恢复阶段。多年来，多次报道恢复期间的气道阻塞会导致肺水肿，如果气道不能非常迅速地恢复，这通常是致命的。本综述总结了有关死亡率和发病率风险的文献。信息已从单个病例报告以及更大规模的研究中收集。