Diagnosis and therapy of endometritis in dairy cows-A review

Abstract

This scientific paper contains a synthesis of the literature on the main diagnostic and treatment procedures of endometritis in dairy cows, used up to now. The diagnosis of clinical endometritis is confirmed by the presence of purulent uterine discharge or cervical diameter >7,5 cm after 21 days of lactation, or mucopurulent discharge after 26 days of lactation without generalized symptoms. Miller et al. concluded that vaginoscopic examination is a more accurate method for detecting uterine infections than palpation per rectum. Uterine biopsy and cytology are the gold standard evaluation methods in the health of the endometrium, especially during the postpartum period. When clinical or subclinical endometritis is diagnosed, the clinician’s first choice is antibiotics, because of their low cost. Of all alternative therapies for the treatment of endometritis, the most potent and safe approach seems to be the use of prostaglandins (PG). The intrauterine infusion of immunomodulators and ozone therapy has also been used to treat postpartum endometritis. Signaling over the last decade of a large phenomenon of bacterial resistance to the medication has forced to the discovery of some effective ethnoveterinary products.