Dr. I. Komang Wiarsa Sardjana

The surgical treatment of airsac lipoma on a 15 year-old male orang utan was done on 24 April 1996 at Surabaya Zoo. The very difficult post-surgical management which resulted in the successful recovery of the patient was discussed.

Key words: Lipoma - Airsac - Surgical Treatment - Orang utan.

Orang utan (Pongo pygmaeus) is as common in captivity as the other great apes - Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla). However the population of the species in the wild is decreasing, principally because of deforestation and both the Kalimantan and Sumatran subspecies Pongo p. pygmaeus and Pongo p. abelli are gravely endangered.

Surabaya Zoo presently has 18 Orang utans, consisting of 12 males and 6 females. One of the males, "Boy", 15 years old was found sick and had symptoms of anorexia, hyperthermia, enteritis and airsac oedema or tumor.

After several examinations including palpation of the airsac, it was found that "Boy" suffered from airsac lipoma. Lipoma is common in old animals especially in mammals such as dogs and occurs as single or multiple nodules in the subcutis of the back, neck, sternum, and abdomen. Lipomas are well-defined spherical or lobulated masses which look like normal fat. Microscopically the tumor cells are indistinguishable from normal fat cells.

Materials and Method

A 15 year old male Kalimantan Orang utan (Pongo p. pygmaeus) weighing 26 kg. Airsac operation was done in the Surabaya Zoo Clinic by a medical team on April 24, 1996. The results of laboratory blood examination were:

Hb : 10.8 g/dl

Leucocyte : 15,100

Thrombocyte : 596.000

Erythrocyte : 7.85 million

Eosinophil : 125 / cm

Reticulocyte : 0.3 %

PVC : 53.7 %

SGOT : 10 u / l

SGPT : 15 u / l

T3 : 140 mg / dl

T4 : 5.5 mg / dl.

 

Premedication :

Atropine sulfas 0.05 mg / kg BW im.

Chlor promasine 0.8 mg / kg BW im.

 

Surgical Anaesthesia :

Propofol 5.0 – 7.5 mg / kg BW im.

Eventually the Surabaya Zoo medical team decided to operate on the airsac. The surgical removal of the lipoma went very well. The incision which was about 4 inches wide was neatly closed and topical medication was administered to the wound. The operation went well, the duration of the surgery was about 3 hours. The animal woke up after 8 hours.

The following medications were given,

Antibiotics : Ampicillin 250 mg. Caps. 3 dd I

Anti inflamatory : Dexan tab 3 dd I for 3 days

Sedative : Valium 2.5 mg tab I dd I

Topical of antibiotic for the wound - Nebacetine powder.

 

Soft food such bananas and apples were given after the perfusion was released. Water and milk were given ad libitum.

After the airsac lipoma was removed, post-operative management of the surgical wound was problematic as the patient continuously caused damage to the site.

There were recurring abscesses and putrefaction of soft tissues. The abscesses were treated by cleaning with Revanol 1% followed by the administration of topical and oral antibiotics. Many surgeries had to be performed to treat the secondary wound infection following the initial surgery. The problem is finally solved after a restraint device designed in Surabaya Zoo was applied to the patient after the surgery. Today the orang has recovered well.

Discussion

Post-operative management of surgical wounds in orang utans can be problematic due to the constant irritation by the dexterous patients.

A properly designed restraint device which was created by our team had solved the problem. It was constructed from plastic piping, straps, wood and soft surfaced metal. It was constructed in such away that it restrained the animal without constricting the neck and allowed procedures such as palpation and cleaning of the wound can be performed without stress as the animal actually felt comfortable and easily adapted itself to the device.

From the result of surgical treatment of Orang utan’s airsac lipoma, it could be concluded that post-operative restraint of the patient is very important. By using a proper restraint device and having full commitment of the team members, treatment of the orang utan was successful.