"Contrast Medium Controlled Injection in the Navicular Bursa and the Following Bursography in 23 Cases"

Abstract

Equine palmar foot syndrome or navicular disease is a common cause of chronic front limb lameness. The state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging is not available for all patients and ultrasonography is sometimes impossible. Intrabursal medication is an important part of treating the disease. Contrast-enhanced (CE) radiography seems to be another interesting imaging modality. There is no information about the CE dorsoproximal-palmarodistal oblique (DPr-PaDiO) radiographs in living horses. This case study shows the first results of this imaging technique with explanations of the findings. Twenty out of 23 injections were successful. The navicular bursa (NB) and the distal interphalangeal joint were filled with contrast medium (CM) in 1/23. There was CM palmar to the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) in addition to the filled NB in 5/20 (25 %) cases. The DPr-PaDiO CE showed alliterations in 7/9 (77.78 %) with a clinical history of lameness. There were two DDFT lesions, one full flexor cortex lesion, three suspected ruptures of the NB and five NB adhesions. The DPr-PaDiO CE X-ray is an inexpensive and highly available additional imaging tool in horses with suspected equine palmar foot syndrome.