The greater frequency of thyroid disease among celiac disease patients justifies a thyroid functional assessment. In distinct cases, gluten withdrawal may single-handedly reverse the abnormality.

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Background: In equine skeletal scintigraphy, there is no information about the possible influence of different phosphonate compounds on image quality. Methods: This prospective randomised study determined bone uptake changes and image quality for hydroxymethylene diphosphonate (HDP) and methylene diphosphonate (MDP) in equine patients at different time points. Scintigraphic images of the radius and the tibia of 20 horses were acquired at 2 and 4 hours after injection of either technetium-labelled HDP or MDP. Three regions of interest were identified-in the bone diaphysis, adjacent soft tissue and background area-to determine the normal bone-to-soft tissue ratio (BSR). Qualitative analysis was performed using a modified scoring system. Results: In terms of BSR and count rates, HDP showed a slightly better incorporation into bone compared to MDP, but significant differences were only detected for count rates at 4 hours after injection (p = 0.048). The radiopharmaceutical used did not influence qualitative image scoring, which was correlated with the BSR (ρ = 0.49; p ≤ 0.001). Conclusion:The choice of HDP or MDP for equine skeletal scintigraphy does not seem to substantially affect BSR and qualitative image scoring. Further studies with a larger sample size, including the evaluation of lesion detection ability for both bone-seeking agents, are needed.

BackgroundProcalcitonin (PCT), a precursor protein of the hormone calcitonin, is a sensitive inflammatory marker in human medicine, which is primarily used for diagnosis of bacterial sepsis, but is also useful in diagnosis of exacerbation of asthma and COPD. In this study, PCT was evaluated as a potential biomarker for different chronic pneumopathies in the horse using an equine specific ELISA in comparison to established clinical markers and different interleukins.Sixty-four horses were classified as free of respiratory disease, recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), inflammatory airway disease (IAD) or chronic interstitial pneumopathy (CIP) using a scoring system. PCT concentrations were measured in plasma (n = 17) and in the cell-free supernatant of bronchoalveolar lavage (n = 64). PCT concentrations were correlated to interleukins IL-1ß and IL-6 in BALF, clinical findings and BALF cytology.ResultsThe median PCT concentrations in plasma were increased in respiratory disease (174.46 ng/ml, n = 7) compared to controls (13.94 ng/ml, n = 10, P = 0.05) and correlated to PCT in BALF supernatant (rs = 0.48). Compared to controls (5.49 ng/ml, n = 15), median PCT concentrations in BALF supernatant correlated to the overall clinical score (rs = 0.32, P = 0.007) and were significantly increased in RAO (13.40 ng/ml, n = 21) and IAD (16.89 ng/ml, n = 16), while no differences were found for CIP (12.02 ng/ml, n = 12). No significant increases were found for IL-1 and IL-6 between controls and respiratory disease in general as well as different disease groups.ConclusionsAlthough some correlations were found between PCT in plasma, BALF supernatant and clinical scores, PCT in BALF does not seem to be a superior marker compared to established clinical markers. PCT in plasma seems to be more promising and a greater number of samples should be evaluated in further studies.

To the authorsʼ knowledge there is only one report in the literature, dealing with paramedullary plasmacytomas in horses as so-called “break out lesions”, originating from the bone marrow of a vertebra and invading the epidural space (Drew and Greatorex 1974). Our case report describes the clinical and patho-morphological findings of such a case. The affected 8-month-old warmblood weanling colt exhibited acute tetraparesis thus, a spinal cord lesion in the cervical column was suspected. Computed tomography revealed osteolytic lesions in C1 and a heterogeneous mass within the respective segment of the vertebral canal. By means of patho-morphological examination, with the aid of transmission electron microscopy, a plasmacytoma was identified, that had grown out of the bone marrow of C1 into the epidural space, locally compressing the spinal cord. In tetraparetic, young horses traumatic spine cord injuries, cervical vertebral malformations and infectious diseases of the central nervous system represent common differentials. However bone-dissolving tumours such as paramedullary plasmacytomas should be considered as a further possible cause in the presence of severe neurological deficits.

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