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Topic:Diagnosis
Diagnosis in horses involves the systematic identification of diseases and conditions affecting equine health. This process relies on a combination of clinical evaluations, laboratory tests, imaging techniques, and other diagnostic tools to assess the health status of horses. Veterinarians utilize these methods to identify symptoms, determine the underlying causes of health issues, and formulate appropriate treatment plans. Diagnostic procedures in equine medicine can include blood tests, ultrasound, radiography, endoscopy, and more specialized tests such as genetic screening or advanced imaging modalities like MRI and CT scans. This page aggregates peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various diagnostic techniques, their applications, and advancements in the field of equine veterinary medicine.
Epidemiological study of pasture-associated laminitis and concurrent risk factors in the South of England. A retrospective study of laminitis was carried out to identify risk factors associated with this disease on an East Anglian farm with approximately 1000 animals living in an area of 1000 acres. Medical records between January 1997 and May 2000 and between April 2005 and March 2008 were reviewed, and the age, sex, weight (kg), height (inches [in] and hands [H]) and weight-to-height ratio (kg/in) was recorded. The prevalence, incidence and seasonality of laminitis were determined and their relationship to the monthly temperature, rainfall and hours of sunshine was evaluated. Averaged over the si...
Haemoperitoneum in horses: a retrospective review of 54 cases. This retrospective study was conducted in the UK and identifies the most frequent causes, diagnoses, treatment and prognoses for short- and long-term survival in 54 cases of horses with haemoperitoneum. Clinical signs of haemorrhagic shock and colic were common, and abdominal ultrasound was very useful for the identification of haemoperitoneum. Causes of haemoperitoneum included uterine injury (22 per cent), involvement of specific blood vessels (20 per cent), splenic injury (19 per cent), neoplasia (13 per cent) and other (4 per cent). No source was identified in 22 per cent of cases. Fifty-s...
Rhabdomyosarcoma in 8 horses. This multi-institutional report describes 8 cases of rhabdomyosarcoma in horses. Four neoplasms were in the tongue and other areas of the mouth or head, 2 were in the abdominal wall, and 1 each was in right shoulder muscles and heart. Four rhabdomyosarcomas that were less than 10 cm in diameter were treated by surgical excision or radiation with no recurrence. Two neoplasms greater than 10 cm in diameter in the abdominal wall and the right shoulder were considered inoperable and led to decisions to euthanize the horses. Two neoplasms were incidental findings at necropsy. All the neoplasms were...
Prevalence of Theileria equi and Babesia caballi infection in horses from northern Italy. Babesia caballi and Theileria equi are the causative agents of equine piroplasmosis. In this epidemiological study, 294 horses reared in a rural area of northern Italy were studied. During January 2008-January 2009, blood samples were taken for serology (indirect fluorescent antibody test) and for polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Data on the geographical area, sex, and age were collected for statistical analysis of risk factors associated with infection. A seroprevalence of 8.5% was found: 8.2% of the animals were positive for anti-T. equi antibodies and 0.3% for anti-B. caballi antibodies. No...
LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of clarithromycin, rifampicin and their main metabolites in horse plasma, epithelial lining fluid and broncho-alveolar cells. Clarithromycin (CLA) is a well established macrolide antibiotic which is frequently used in therapy of airway diseases in foals. It is extensively metabolized by CYP3A4 resulting in the antimicrobial active metabolite 14-hydroxyclarithromycin (OH-CLA). Rifampicin (RIF) is often comedicated to prevent resistance and augment therapy. RIF is a known inducer for metabolizing enzymes and transporter proteins. Therefore, comedication might bare the risks of pharmacokinetic drug interactions which were investigated in a clinical trial. As no adequate method to determine CLA, RIF and their main metabo...
Brother of CDO (BOC) expression in equine articular cartilage. Brother of CDO (BOC) is a cell surface receptor that derives its name from the structurally related protein, cell adhesion molecule-related/down-regulated by oncogenes (CDO, sometimes CDON). High levels of BOC mRNA and protein expression have been described in embryonic tissues with active cell proliferation and ongoing cellular differentiation(1,2). A microarray-based screen of RNA isolated from 11 different adult equine tissues unexpectedly identified BOC as having an expression pattern restricted to articular cartilage. The objective of this study was to further investigate BOC expression i...
Diagnostic value of the neutrophil myeloperoxidase index in horses with systemic inflammation. The myeloperoxidase index (MPXI) was investigated as a diagnostic indicator of systemic inflammation in a retrospective study using data from 859 hospitalised horses. A reference interval of 8.5-10.4 for the MPXI was established. In horses with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), the MPXI was significantly lower than in healthy horses, those with localised inflammation and those with sepsis. The MPXI in horses with sepsis was also significantly lower than in healthy animals and those with localised inflammation. Horses in the SIRS group with leucopenia, white blood cell (WBC) count...
Specific antibody responses to West Nile virus infections in horses preimmunized with inactivated Japanese encephalitis vaccine: evaluation of blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and complement-dependent cytotoxicity assay. West Nile virus (WNV) and Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus are distributed separately in the world with some exceptions. There is a concern that WNV may invade into Asia where JE virus exists. On and after such invasion, any differential diagnosis could be complicated by serological crossreactivities. We previously demonstrated experimentally using horses infected with WNV that preimmunization with inactivated JE vaccine considerably affected the ability of neutralization tests and immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to diagnose WNV infection. Here...
Identification of Arcanobacterium haemolyticum isolated from postcastrational complications of a horse. An Arcanobacterium haemolyticum strain isolated from a postcastrational lesion of a horse was identified phenotypically and genotypically. The latter was performed by sequencing the 16S-23S rDNA intergenic spacer region (ISR), by amplification of the gene encoding A. haemolyticum phospholipase D, by amplification of A. haemolyticum specific parts of ISR-23S rDNA and by amplification of the newly described CAMP factor family protein encoding gene of A. haemolyticum. This indicates (as described previously for seven additional A. haemolyticum strains; Hassan et al. 2009) that A. haemolyticum see...
Effects of ophthalmic disease on concentrations of plasma fibrinogen and serum amyloid A in the horse. There is little scientific information available about the ability of ocular disease to cause a systemic inflammatory response. Horses are frequently affected with ocular disease and ensuring their systemic health prior to performing vision saving surgery under anaesthesia is essential for the successful treatment of ophthalmic disease. Objective: Ocular disease will cause elevations in the concentration of the acute phase proteins fibrinogen and serum amyloid A in peripheral blood. Methods: Whole blood and serum samples were obtained from 38 mature horses with ulcerative keratitis or uveitis ...
Thoracic emphysematous lymphadenitis in a foal. Emphysema of lymph nodes is a rare finding that has been described in different anatomical locations and related to specific diseases in different animal species. Herein is described a foal with Rhodococcus equi infection that presented with emphysema and granulomatous inflammation of the bronchial and mediastinal lymph nodes. This is the first report of emphysematous lymphadenitis in a horse.
Epithelioid haemangiosarcoma in the ocular tissue of horses. Haemangiosarcomas (HSAs) are malignant tumours of endothelial cell origin. Epithelioid HSA is a variant of the histologically conventional HSA that has little or no morphological evidence of a vascular origin and has been reported rarely in domestic animals. The following report documents six cases of equine epithelioid HSA occurring in the ocular tissues of horses with a mean age of 19.8 years at the time of diagnosis. Microscopically, all of the lesions consisted of solid sheets or cords of epithelioid cells with rare narrow clefts or small spaces containing erythrocytes that were often the ...
Assessment of the impact of collection temperature and sampler design on the measurement of exhaled breath condensate pH in healthy horses. The pH measurement of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) may provide a non-invasive method of assessing the lower airways of horses but the methodology used may influence findings. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of two sampling devices and three methods of condensation surface cooling (ethanol slush, -100°C; dry ice, -75°C; water ice, 0°C) on EBC pH. Each method was tested 30 times using six healthy ponies. Sample pH was determined before and after de-aeration with argon for 10 min. Sampler design was found to significantly affect pH. Samples collected as a liquid had a si...
The timeline of lamellar basement membrane changes during equine laminitis development. The timing of lamellar basement membrane (BM) changes occurring during laminitis development is incompletely understood. Objective: To determine the temporal progression of lamellar BM changes and whether laminin-332 (Ln-332) γ2 cleavage products are generated during laminitis development. Methods: Eight clinically normal Standardbred horses were allocated into treatment (n = 5) or sham (n = 3) groups. The treatment group received, via nasogastric intubation, an oligofructose (OF) bolus (10 g/kg bwt) while the sham group was given water. Laminitis induction proceeded for 48 h followed by euth...
Morphological changes in the small intestinal smooth muscle layers of horses suffering from small intestinal strangulation. Is there a basis for predisposition for reduced contractility? Intestinal strangulation often leads to enterectomy after which ileus can develop. This has prompted research to look into possible pathophysiological processes triggering equine ileus. However, morphological changes of the small intestinal smooth muscle in relation to equine colic have not yet been studied. Objective: The presence of some smooth muscle proteins was morphologically assessed and quantified in control and colic horses. In addition, the up- or down-regulation of heat shock proteins (HSP20 and HSP27) influencing the contractility of smooth muscles was studied. Methods: Cranial res...
Comparison of three diagnostic methods to identify subclinical endometritis in mares. The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy of a uterine swab (US), a cytological brush (CB) and an endometrial biopsy (EB) to detect subclinical endometritis in mares. Cytological and bacteriological results of all three techniques were related to histological occurrence of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) in the stratum compactum, commonly known as 'best standard'; to diagnose endometritis. Samples were taken from 55 mares of different breeds without clinical signs of endometritis. Samples for US, CB and EB were collected, smeared on a microscopic slide and cultured for bacte...
Cervical vertebral canal endoscopy in the horse: intra- and post operative observations. Despite modern medical diagnostic imaging, it is not possible to identify reliably the exact location of spinal cord compression in horses with cervical vertebral stenotic myelopathy (CVSM). Vertebral canal endoscopy has been successfully used in man and a technique for cervical vertebral canal endoscopy (CVCE) has been described in equine cadavers. Objective: To determine the feasibility and safety of CVCE in healthy mature horses. Methods: Six healthy mature horses were anaesthetised. A flexible videoendoscope was subsequently introduced via the atlanto-occipital space into the epidural spac...
Severe bilaterally symmetrical alopecia in a horse. A 9-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse gelding was presented for diagnosis of the cause of extensive alopecia. Complete hair loss was noted over the head, neck, shoulder, thigh, and proximal limbs, but the trunk, distal limbs, pelvic area, mane, and tail were unaffected. The alopecic areas were visually noninflammatory with no exudate or crust except on the shoulder and along the back, where multifocal patchy areas of alopecia with scales and crust were evident. The horse was slightly pruritic. Microscopically, the hair bulbs, inner and outer root sheaths of inferior segments, and perifollicular...
Evaluation of ethyl alcohol for use in a minimally invasive technique for equine proximal interphalangeal joint arthrodesis. To determine whether intra-articular 70% ethyl alcohol alone (IAEA) or in combination with 2 percutaneously placed transarticular lag screws (EA-TLS) would result in arthrodesis of the equine proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint. Methods: Experimental. Methods: Healthy horses (n=6), aged 1.5-3 years, free of lameness, diagonally paired front and hind PIP joints. Methods: Six milliliters 70% ethyl alcohol was injected into randomly selected diagonally paired front and hind PIP joints. Thirty days later, 2 parallel 5.5 mm cortical screws were inserted in lag fashion across the hind PIP joints an...
Biochemical identification and immunolocalizaton of aggrecan, ADAMTS5 and inter-alpha-trypsin-inhibitor in equine degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis. We describe analysis of suspensory ligaments from horses with advanced degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (DSLD) to identify the major proteoglycans (PGs), ADAMTS-aggrecanases and inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor (IαI) components associated with ligament degeneration. Specific anatomical regions of suspensory ligaments from two normal horses and four diagnosed with DSLD were analyzed by Western blot and immunohistochemistry for the following: aggrecan, aggrecan fragments, decorin, ADAMTS4, ADAMTS5, and IαI components. When compared to normal, DSLD ligaments showed about a 15-fold increas...
Immunohistochemical distribution of laminin-332 and collagen type IV in the basement membrane of normal horses and horses with induced laminitis. The basement membrane (BM) is a thin layer of extracellular matrix that regulates cell functions as well as providing support to tissues of the body. Primary components of the BM of epithelial tissues are laminin-332 (Ln-332) and collagen type IV. Equine laminitis is a disease characterized by destruction and dislocation of the hoof lamellar BM. Immunohistochemistry was used to characterize the distribution of Ln-332 and collagen type IV in the organs of normal horses and these proteins were found to be widespread. Analysis of a panel of tissue samples from horses with experimentally-induced l...
Serum levels of acute phase proteins: SAA, Hp and progesterone (P4) in mares with early embryonic death. The study involved 46 healthy purebred Arabian mares exhibiting regular oestrous cycles that underwent artificial insemination (AI). Pregnancy was detected ultrasonographically (US) in 40 mares. In 15 mares in foal, early embryonic death (EED) was observed during the pregnancy days 14-21. Blood for determinations of serum acute phase proteins (SAA and Hp) and progesterone (P4) was sampled 12-24 h before ovulation and the first insemination, at 12, 24, 72, 96 h and on day 7, 10, 14, 21, 35 and 55 after ovulation. The results revealed that in 25 mares without EED, the serum levels of P4, SAA and...
Immunocytochemical detection of Rhodococcus equi in tracheal washes of foals. The aim of the present study was to develop an immunocytochemical procedure for the early detection and demonstration of Rhodococcus equi in smears of tracheal aspirates taken from live foals in field conditions. Tracheal wash samples were collected from thoroughbred foals, aged 1-5 months and located in studs around Bursa and Istanbul, Turkey. Some foals were suspected of having R. equi infection on the basis of clinical examination (n=56) and others were unaffected control animals (n=54). Serum samples were also collected from each foal for testing for the presence of R. equi-specific antibo...
Horse species symposium: a novel approach to monitoring pathogen progression during uterine and placental infection in the mare using bioluminescence imaging technology and lux-modified bacteria. Uterine and placental infections are the leading cause of abortion, stillbirth, and preterm delivery in the mare. Whereas uterine and placental infections in women have been studied extensively, a comprehensive examination of the pathogenic processes leading to this unsatisfactory pregnancy outcome in the mare has yet to be completed. Most information in the literature relating to late-term pregnancy loss in mares is based on retrospective studies of clinical cases submitted for necropsy. Here we report the development and application of a novel approach, whereby transgenically modified bacter...
Antibody response in horses following experimental infection with West Nile Virus lineages 1 and 2. West Nile virus (WNV) has re-emerged as an important pathogen for humans and horses, which are considered to be incidental 'dead-end' hosts. We have demonstrated that horses are susceptible to experimental infection with WNV and that horses infected with either WNV lineage 1 or lineage 2 elicit a similar antibody profile in serum samples. These data suggest that virus-neutralizing antibody responses persist for longer than WNV-specific IgM levels in serum and that there are not any notable differences in the antibody profile following experimental infection of horses with either WNV lineage 1 ...
