Disorders of the sustentaculum tali and the medial trochlear ridge of the talus in horses: Novel findings and surgical management of five cases

Abstract

The sustentaculum tali (ST) is located at the medial aspect of the tarsus and is considered a rare anatomic location for diseases. This retrospective case series describes the management of five horses with septic and non-septic ST injuries. All horses were treated surgically with tenovaginoscopy, ST fragment and exostosis removal. In two cases, lameness was caused by an exostosis involving the ST and the plantar aspect of the medial trochlear ridge (MTR). There are no reports of exostosis involving ST and MTR causing lameness. In four horses, the long-term outcome was considered good and the horses were able to return to the previous level; one horse developed a recurrence of ST and MTR exostosis leading to recurrence of lameness. Curettage of the ST and MTR exostosis, removal of fragments and tarsal sheath adhesions play a pivotal role in increasing prognosis and long-term outcome. Poor prognosis is correlated with exostosis recurrence. BACKGROUNDThis article provides the readership of the Veterinary Record with new information on the lesion and surgical treatment of injuries of the sustentaculum tali (ST).In this retrospective study, we report a case series that describes the clinical presentation, diagnosis, surgical management and outcome of five horses with septic and nonseptic injuries of the ST. All horses were treated surgically. We provide the reader with information to optimize the surgical approach according to the specific cases. In this case report, we also describe two cases with non-septic exostosis of the ST also involving the medial trochlear ridge (MTR). In these two cases, the exostosis was defined as the cause of lameness. The exostosis of ST and MTR is considered a rare pathological condition that has to be taken into consideration in cases of hindlimb lameness because this can be the reason for lameness. Exostosis involving the ST and MTR has not been described in detail before. CASE PRESENTATIONThe medial aspect of the tarsus in horses is poorly covered by soft tissue and bone protrusions of the talus and calca-This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Successful intra-abdominal resection of a 24 kg ovarian granulosa cell tumour in a Warmblood mare

“…The ovarian bleeding stopped as soon as the ovarian pedicle was sealed. After GCT removal, the abdomen was lavaged with 20 l sterile saline solution to remove fibrin clots remaining from the previous hemoperitoneum, and to prevent adhesion formation ( Della Tommasa et al , 2022 ) The ventral midline was closed in four layers, using a simple continuous pattern for the peritoneum, a conventional continuous technique for the fascia, and simple continuous pattern for the subcutaneous and intra-cutaneous tissues. In the recovery stall, a belly bandage was applied.…”