BCSE (Basic & Clinical Sciences Examination) · USA / Canada · ICVA; administered through CVMA-NEB and AVMA-ECFVG
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersSurgery region by region, head to tail, in large and small animals, including rumenotomy, abomasal displacement, caesarean section and ovariohysterectomy.
In the exams: SAVC spay DOPS (bitch ovariohysterectomy); AVE Surgery OSCE (canine OHE on a model); NEB ovariohysterectomy requirement; ICAR AICE-JRF core group 07
NAVLE, BCSE and ECFVG/NEB
Clinical vignettes: GDV stabilisation and gastropexy, urethral obstruction in cats with hyperkalaemia, cystotomy for oxalate stones, pyometra, enterotomy for foreign bodies, LDA diagnosis and correction, equine castration complications; the OHE is assessed practically.
How our questions for BCSE spread across the units of Regional Veterinary Surgery. Difficulty: 6 easy, 22 medium, 7 hard.
| Cystotomy and gastropexy | 5 | |
| Laparotomy and enterotomy | 4 | |
| Thoracic surgery | 3 | |
| Urolithiasis | 3 | |
| Castration | 3 | |
| Surgery of the tail | 3 | |
| Ovariohysterectomy | 3 | |
| Surgery of the eye | 2 | |
| Surgery of the ear | 2 | |
| Surgery of the oral cavity | 2 | |
| Rumenotomy | 2 | |
| Dehorning | 1 | |
| Correction of left and right abomasal displacement | 1 | |
| Caesarean section | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
What is the commonest important complication of total ear canal ablation with lateral bulla osteotomy, and why?
B. Facial nerve paralysis, because the nerve curves around the horizontal canal
The facial nerve leaves the stylomastoid foramen just caudal to the horizontal canal and curves around it, so it is easily damaged; loss of blink needs eye lubrication while it recovers. Hearing is lost on the operated side, not the other; the recurrent laryngeal nerve runs in the neck and thorax; the mandibular nerve is not in the canal.
Further reading: Fubini & Ducharme, Farm Animal Surgery; Fossum, Small Animal Surgery; Weaver et al., Bovine Surgery and Lameness
A dog has a soft, non-painful swelling under the jaw that recurs after needle drainage and yields thick, stringy, golden fluid. What is the definitive treatment?
C. Removal of the mandibular and sublingual salivary glands on the affected side
This is a cervical salivary mucocele, usually from the sublingual gland. Because the mandibular and sublingual glands share a capsule and duct path, both are removed on the affected side. Drainage and steroids recur; the mucocele lining is granulation tissue, so excising it alone does not stop the leak; the parotid is not the usual source.
Further reading: Fubini & Ducharme, Farm Animal Surgery; Fossum, Small Animal Surgery; Weaver et al., Bovine Surgery and Lameness
Why must ventilation be controlled once the pleura is opened during thoracotomy?
D. Opening the pleural space removes negative pressure, so the lungs collapse
Lung inflation depends on negative intrapleural pressure; when the pleura is opened the lungs collapse, so positive-pressure ventilation is needed until the chest is closed and air evacuated. The phrenic nerve is preserved and the diaphragm does not stop because of air contact.
Further reading: Fubini & Ducharme, Farm Animal Surgery; Fossum, Small Animal Surgery; Weaver et al., Bovine Surgery and Lameness
A cow with suspected traumatic reticuloperitonitis undergoes rumenotomy. After the wire is removed, which step reduces recurrence?
D. Leaving a magnet in the reticulum before closing
A magnet left in the reticulum holds any later metal objects, reducing recurrence of hardware disease. The reticulum is not removed or sutured to the diaphragm; antiseptic flushing does nothing to prevent new foreign bodies.
Further reading: Fubini & Ducharme, Farm Animal Surgery; Fossum, Small Animal Surgery; Weaver et al., Bovine Surgery and Lameness
Where should an enterotomy be made to remove a small-intestinal foreign body in a dog?
A. On the antimesenteric border, in healthy tissue just aboral to the object
The antimesenteric border avoids the mesenteric vessels, and the incision is made in healthy bowel just aboral (distal) to the foreign body, where the wall heals reliably. Incising over the object places the wound in compromised tissue; incising the mesenteric border risks the blood supply.
Further reading: Fubini & Ducharme, Farm Animal Surgery; Fossum, Small Animal Surgery; Weaver et al., Bovine Surgery and Lameness
In anaesthesia for caesarean section in a bitch, which choice best protects the puppies?
B. Prepare and clip before induction, use short-acting agents, avoid alpha-2 agonists
Every minute of anaesthesia before delivery exposes the puppies to drugs, so the bitch is clipped and prepared before induction, short-acting induction agents and inhalants are used with local infiltration, and alpha-2 agonists, linked with poorer neonatal survival, are usually avoided.
Further reading: Fubini & Ducharme, Farm Animal Surgery; Fossum, Small Animal Surgery; Weaver et al., Bovine Surgery and Lameness
A blocked male cat has a heart rate of 120 per minute, weak pulses and serum potassium of 8.5 mmol/L. What should happen first?
D. Stabilise: treat hyperkalaemia and give fluids before relieving the block
Hyperkalaemia causes bradycardia and dangerous arrhythmias; it is treated first (fluids, cardioprotection and measures that drive potassium into cells) and the patient stabilised before sedation or anaesthesia for catheterisation. Perineal urethrostomy is for recurrent obstruction, not the first step.
Further reading: Fubini & Ducharme, Farm Animal Surgery; Fossum, Small Animal Surgery; Weaver et al., Bovine Surgery and Lameness
During perineal hernia repair, which structure is at risk when sutures are passed around the sacrotuberous ligament?
A. The sciatic nerve, just deep to the ligament
The sciatic nerve lies just cranial and lateral to the sacrotuberous ligament (deep to it from the perineal approach); a suture passed around rather than through the ligament can entrap it, causing lameness, so sutures are placed through the ligament. Internal obturator transposition uses that muscle deliberately; the ureter is not near the perineum; the pudendal vessels and nerve run medial to the ligament over the internal obturator, not ventral to the anus, and are at risk from sutures placed there rather than around the ligament.
Further reading: Fubini & Ducharme, Farm Animal Surgery; Fossum, Small Animal Surgery; Weaver et al., Bovine Surgery and Lameness
Why are radiographs taken immediately after cystotomy for radio-opaque calculi?
C. To confirm that no calculi were left in the bladder or urethra
Incomplete removal of uroliths is a recognised error after cystotomy, so post-operative radiographs confirm that all radio-opaque stones are gone. Plain radiographs do not show suture-line leakage; wall thickness and closure technique are not assessed this way.
Further reading: Fubini & Ducharme, Farm Animal Surgery; Fossum, Small Animal Surgery; Weaver et al., Bovine Surgery and Lameness
A dog has bladder stones identified as calcium oxalate on analysis of a voided fragment. Which statement guides management?
B. They cannot be dissolved by diet, so they are removed physically
Calcium oxalate uroliths are not dissolved by diet; they are removed by cystotomy or minimally invasive methods, then recurrence is reduced by diet and water intake. Infection-induced struvite can be dissolved with diet and antimicrobials; calcium oxalate is radio-opaque.
Further reading: Fubini & Ducharme, Farm Animal Surgery; Fossum, Small Animal Surgery; Weaver et al., Bovine Surgery and Lameness
Ten here, 35 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to BCSE in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.
Free for ten days, then one subscription of US$10 a month. We would rather say so here than have you find it later.
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