Objective-To compare functional indices of end-to-end (EEA) jejunojejunal anastomosis using skin staples in horses with a 2-layer inverting hand-sewn technique. Study Design-Experimental study. Sample Population-Jejunal segments from 8 fresh equine cadavers. Methods-For each bowel segment, 2 EEA anastomoses were created: one 2-layer hand-sewn and one 1-layer using skin staples. Time for anastomosis creation was recorded and compared. Lumen diameter of each anastomosis was measured on digital radiographs after intraluminal instillation of contrast medium and inflation of the jejunal segments to 14 mm Hg. Anastomotic indices (a compensated measure of stoma diameter) and bursting pressure were determined. Results-EEA jejunal anastomosis using skin staples was significantly faster than use of a 2-layer hand-sewn technique. Anastomotic index, a measure of lumen size, was significantly larger with the skin-staple technique; however, the bursting pressure of stapled anastomoses was significantly less than for the hand-sewn technique, but the values were well above those reported for other anastomotic techniques. Conclusions-An anastomotic technique using skin staples was easy to learn and perform, effective and faster, and mechanically comparable with a hand-sewn 2-layer technique. Clinical Relevance-The staple technique could be beneficial in equine gastrointestinal surgery by reducing anastomosis time, although further in vivo studies are needed to establish clinical safety. r

Our results support the hypothesis that osteoclasts are recruited during the progression of spontaneous equine carpal PTOA by cartilage RANKL, contributing to calcified cartilage microcracks and focal subchondral bone loss.

BackgroundThere is a substantial paucity of studies concerning musculoskeletal injuries in harness Standardbred racehorses. Specifically, little is known about the epidemiology of exercise-related musculoskeletal injuries. Most studies on this subject involve Thoroughbred racehorses, whose biomechanics and racing speed differ from Standardbred, making comparisons difficult. Here, a population of Standardbred racehorses trained at the same racecourse was studied over four years and a classification system for exercise-related musculoskeletal injuries was designed. The incidence rates of musculoskeletal injuries causing horses’ withdrawal from training for 15 days or longer were investigated. A mixed-effects Poisson regression model was used to estimate musculoskeletal injury rates and to describe significance of selected risk factors for exercise-related injuries in this population.ResultsA total of 356 trotter racehorses from 10 different stables contributed 8961 months at risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Four-hundred-and-twenty-nine injuries were reported and classified into 16 categories, based on their aetiology and anatomical localisation. The overall exercise-related injury rate was 4.79 per 100 horse months. When considering risk factors one by one in separate univariable analyses, we obtained the following results: rates did not differ significantly between genders and classes of age, whereas one driver seemed to cause fewer injuries than the others. Racing speed and racing intensity, as well as recent medical history, seemed to be significant risk factors (p < 0.001), while being shod or unshod during racing was not. On the other hand, when pooling several risk factors in a multivariable approach, only racing intensity turned out to be significant (p < 0.001), since racing speed and the racing intensity were partially confounded, being strongly correlated to one another.ConclusionCharacterizing epidemiology of exercise-related musculoskeletal injuries in trotter racehorses provides baseline incidence rate values. Incidence rates of stress fracture are lower in Standardbreds compared to Thoroughbreds, whereas the opposite is true for tendon and suspensory ligament injuries. In addition to identification of risk factors for musculoskeletal injuries among Standardbred racehorses, results suggest that racing intensity seems to be a protective predictor of risk and recent medical history could be used to identify horses at risk of injury.

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Despite back-pain being a common cause of poor performance in sport horses, a tailored diagnostic workflow and a consolidated therapeutic approach are currently lacking in equine medicine. The aim of the study was to assess the evolution in the veterinarian approach to diagnose and treat back-pain over a 10 years period. To investigate this topic, two surveys were addressed to equine veterinarians working in practice throughout Europe 10 years apart (2006 and 2016). The answers were organized in an Excel dataset and analyzed. There were 47 respondents in 2006 and 168 in 2016, from 8 European Countries. The main reasons for examining horses with back-pain were poor performance (76%), behavioral issues (68%), and lameness (50%). When assessing back pain, 97% of respondents applied careful digital pressure over paravertebral muscles, 90% of them used digital back mobilization, and 69% was detecting areas of localized heat. The use of diagnostic analgesia to confirm the source of pain was rarely employed. Radiography and ultrasonography were the most frequent diagnostic imaging modalities used to investigate the causes of back-pain in both surveys. Obtaining a definitive diagnosis in horses with back-pain is considered challenging due to the reduced accessibility of the area and the variability in the pain manifestations. Corticosteroids injections were used for local treatments by 80% of respondents in 2006 and 92% in 2016. Recently, ultrasonography has been extensively used during the injections of the vertebral articular facets and sacroiliac joints region. The use of complementary therapies was restricted to a low percentage of respondents in the first survey (20%) but it increased over the decade. In 2016, a wider percentage of respondents considered osteopathy (40%), kinesiotherapy (29%), and acupuncture (22%) when treating back disorders compared to 2006. The structural differences of the two surveys did not enable a direct data comparison. Based on the results of this surveys, however, veterinarians should be sensitized to the back-pain problems and seek to integrate findings from clinical research studies in their daily practice.

Summary This reports discusses a perforating metallic wire that was suspected of causing chronic weight loss, inappetance and pyrexia in a 15‐year‐old Standardbred gelding, due to the fact that during the previous 18 months, 6 horses coming from the same yard were referred for recurrent or acute colic related to the ingestion of metallic wires. Splenomegaly was detected ultrasonographically and confirmed during surgery. During necropsy, 2 metallic wires 0.2 mm in diameter and 3–4 cm long were found in a markedly enlarged spleen with several nonencapsulated abscesses. Metallic wire perforation and migration through the lower alimentary tract may involve different abdominal quadrants (intestine, abdominal wall, spleen, liver) and lead to different clinical syndromes as acute or recurrent colic and weight loss. A clinical diagnosis is challenging as the clinical signs are often nonspecific and prognosis is generally considered poor.

BackgroundJoint impact injuries initiate a progressive articular damage finally leading to post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Racehorses represent an ideal, naturally available, animal model of the disease. Standardbred racehorses developing traumatic osteoarthritis of the fetlock joint during the first year of their career were enrolled in our study. Age-matched controls were contemporarily included. Biomarker levels of equine osteoarthritis were measured in serum and synovial fluid (SF) at baseline, and repeated yearly over the next 4 years of training (from T1 to T4). The effect of time and disease on the biomarker concentrations were analysed, and their relationship with clinical and radiographic parameters were assessed. We hypothesized that the kinetics of pro-inflammatory cytokines and structural biomarkers of joint disease would demonstrate progression of degenerative joint status during post-traumatic osteoarthritis and clarify the effect of early joint trauma.ResultsThe concentrations of IL1-ß, IL-6, TNF-α in the SF of PTOA group peaked at T0, decreased at T1, and then progressively increased with time, reaching levels higher than those observed at baseline starting from T3. CTXII and COMP levels were similar in PTOA and control horses at baseline, and increased in serum and synovial fluid of PTOA horses starting from T2 (serum and synovial CTXII, and serum COMP) or T3 (synovial COMP). The percentual change of TNF-α in the SF of the affected joints independently contributed to explaining the radiological changes at T3 vs T2 and T4 vs T3.Conclusions Temporal changes of selected biomarkers in STBRs with an acute episode of traumatic fetlock OA demonstrated that long-term increased concentrations of inflammatory cytokines, type II collagen fragments and COMP, in the SF and serum, are related to PTOA. Based on the observed decrease in inflammatory merkers at T1, we hypothesize that the progression of PTOA could be effectively modulated by proper treatment strategies. Annual variations of synovial concentration of TNF-α can reliably predict radiographic progression of PTOA.

BackgroundLongitudinal tears in the lateral aspect of the deep digital flexor tendon are the most common causes of pain localised to the equine digital flexor tendon sheath. However conventional ultrasonographic techniques provide limited information about acute lesions. Ultrasonographic contrast agents are newly developed materials that have contributed to advancement in human diagnostic imaging. They are currently approved for intravenous use in human and animal models. In this study we described intrathecal use in the horse. This study was undertaken to evaluate the reliability of standard and angle contrast-enhanced ultrasonography to detect and characterize surgically-induced longitudinal lesions in the deep digital flexor tendons.In this pilot study surgically-induced lesions were created in the lateral aspect of the deep digital flexor tendon within the digital flexor tendon sheath in 10 isolated equine limbs to generate a replicable model for naturally occurring lesions. Another 10 specimens were sham operated. All the limbs were examined ultrasonographically before and shortly after the intrasynovial injection of an ultrasound contrast agent containing stabilised microbubbles. The images were blindly evaluated to detect the ability to identify surgically-created lesions. The deep digital flexor tendons were dissected and a series of slices were obtained. The depth of longitudinal defects identified with contrast-enhanced ultrasound scans was compared to the real extent of the lesions measured in the corresponding gross tendon sections.ResultsContrast-enhanced ultrasonography with both angle and standard approach provided a significant higher proportion of correct diagnoses compared to standard and angle contrast ultrasonography (p < 0.01). Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography reliably estimated the depth of surgically-induced longitudinal lesions in the deep digital flexor tendons.ConclusionContrast-enhanced ultrasound of the digital flexor tendon sheath could be an effective tool to detect intrasynovial longitudinal tears of the deep digital flexor tendon, although an in vivo study is required to confirm these results for naturally occurring lesions.