Topographic comparative study of paranasal sinuses in adult horses by computed tomography, sinuscopy, and sectional anatomy

Abstract

Clinical and radiographic investigations of paranasal sinuses in horses are difficult due to the complex anatomy of these regions, the lack of patognomonic symptoms, and the low sensitivity of conventional diagnostic techniques. The aim of this study was to produce an anatomical atlas to support computed tomography (CT) and sinuscopy of the paranasal sinuses of the adult horse. Transverse, sagittal, and dorsal CT images were acquired, and sinuscopy with both rigid and flexible endoscopes was performed. The heads were frozen and sectioned using a band saw, with the cuts aligned as close as possible with the CT transverse slices. Each CT image was compared with its corresponding anatomical section and sinuscopy image to assist in the accurate identification of specific structures.

Computed tomographic imaging of the brain of normal neonatal foals

“…Some reports that described the normal anatomy of the equine head showed similar results (Arencibia et al 2000, Smallwood et al 2002, De Zani et al 2010. However, in most of these studies the normal anatomy of the brain was scarcely described.…”

“…Several reports of CT imaging of the head used live animals (Hathcock et al 1995, Solano and Brawer 2004, Probst et al 2005, but they were not focused in the study of the brain anatomy. Other reports used isolated heads for the study of the equine adult head (Morrow et al 2000), the foal head (Smallwood et al 2002), and the paranasal sinuses of adult horses (De Zani et al 2010). In these studies there were soft tissue findings associated with post-mortem changes such as the brain retraction or enlargement of cerebral ventricles due to the effect of air-filled cavity.…”

“…The CT scanners used in veterinary medicine are designed to use in human patients; therefore, this type of machines are only suitable for neonatal foals due to size constraints of the CT gantry and scanning table. Due to all these limitations, reports of CT in the horse have been focused on technical procedures (Barbee et al 1987), studies of the head (Vink-Nooteboom et al 1998, Morrow et al 2000, De Zani et al 2010, distal extremities (Peterson and Bowman 1988) and cervical spine (Zafra et al 2012). However, most of these studies were performed on cadaver specimens, but to the author's knowledge similar CT studies in live neonatal foals have not been reported.…”

Computed tomography of the brain and associated structures of the one-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius): an anatomic study

“…CT imaging is a diagnostic technique that offers considerable advantages over traditional radiography: a lack of superimposition of the tissues and a higher differentiation of tissue densities (Solano & Brawer 2004;De Zani et al 2010). CT provides excellent spatial resolution and good discrimination between bone and soft tissue of the head (Hathcock et al 1995;Morrow et al 2000;De Zani et al 2010).…”

“…In large animals, CT has been used sparingly for descriptive anatomic research (Hathcock et al 1995;Morrow et al 2000;De Zani et al 2010;Zafra et al 2012) and several studies have demonstrated the clinical value of CT in diagnosing diseases of the head (Tietje et al 1996;Warmerdam et al 1997). In camelids, CT anatomy of the nasal cavity Wang et al 2008), temporomandibular joint (Arencibia et al 2012), tarsus (Hagag et al 2013) and metatarsus and digits (El-Shafey & Kassab 2013) has been studied, but to the author's knowledge, there is no published material describing the results of CT anatomy of the brain and associated structures in dromedary camel applying bone and soft-tissue CT windows.…”