Disease treatment in horses encompasses a range of medical interventions and management strategies aimed at addressing various health conditions affecting equine species. These treatments can include pharmacological approaches, such as the administration of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, and antiparasitic medications, as well as non-pharmacological methods like physical therapy, dietary adjustments, and surgical procedures. The selection of appropriate treatments depends on the specific disease, its severity, and the individual needs of the horse. This topic brings together peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the efficacy, safety, and advancements in therapeutic options for equine diseases, providing insights into best practices and emerging trends in equine veterinary medicine.
Prades M, Grant BD, Turner TA, Nixon AJ, Brown MP.The clinical, radiographic, arthroscopic and pathological findings of 10 horses with injury to the cranial cruciate ligament are presented. The most consistent clinical signs included moderate to severe distension of the femoropatellar joint and a Grade III to a Grade V out of V lameness. Craniocaudal instability could be elicited in five horses under general anaesthesia and in one conscious horse. Radiographic evaluation of the stifles revealed that avulsion fracture of the medial intercondylar eminence was the most common finding in six out of 10 horses. Arthroscopic examination of the affec...
Tulamo RM, Bramlage LR, Gabel AA.Infectious arthritis was induced experimentally in one tarsocrural joint of six horses by intra-articular injection of 1 ml Staphylococcus-saline suspension containing 9 x 10(4) to 3 x 10(6) organisms. The corresponding contralateral joint was injected with 1 ml of saline and served as a control. The progression of the induced infectious arthritis was assessed over a nine-day period by clinical examination and sequential synovial fluid analysis with pH and lactate measurements. Changes in synovial fluid were present before clinical signs of infectious arthritis were manifested. The diagnostic ...
Detilleux PG, Cheville NF, Sheahan BJ.Tissues from subcutaneous lymphosarcomas and regional lymph nodes were examined by light and electron microscopy and by lectin histochemistry. Tumors were composed of two major cell types: small lymphocytes with few organelles and pleomorphic histiocytic cells with undulant surfaces, large numbers of cytoplasmic vacuoles, and many mitochondria with large crystalline inclusions. A large gram-positive coryneform bacterium was isolated from tumor nodules but was not identified morphologically in tumor tissues. Evaluation of sections of tumors with lectins as histochemical probes revealed three st...
Adams JG, Trim CM.Five horses were anaesthetised twice with thiopentone sodium, guaifenesin and halothane. The second anaesthesia was 16 days after the first and two days following oral administration of trichlorfon. Heart rate, carotid arterial, pulmonary arterial and right atrial pressures, cardiac output and blood temperature were measured every 15 minutes for 120 minutes. Heart rate, carotid arterial pressure and cardiac output were similar on both occasions. Pulmonary arterial and right atrial pressures were highest during anaesthesia after treatment with trichlorfon when compared with values obtained befo...
Bertone AL, Schneiter HL, Turner AS, Shoemaker RS.Two mares with multiple carpal bone fractures, malarticulation and degenerative joint disease were successfully treated with unilateral arthrodeses of the antebrachiocarpal, middle carpal, and carpometacarpal joints. Arthrodesis was achieved by removal of articular cartilage, autogenous cancellous bone graft, and double dynamic compression plating. In one horse, wedge ostectomy corrected the severe, acquired angular limb deformity. External coaptation supplemented the internal fixation. Postoperative complications were limited to cast sores that healed with treatment, although protracted in on...
Norman WM, Williams R, Dodman NH, Kraus AE.After surgery, high intramuscular pressures were measured in a horse with clinical signs of postanesthetic myopathy that developed following a 2.25-hour surgical procedure. In the postoperative period, tests for muscular and neurologic integrity were made, including measurement of intracompartmental muscle pressure.
Belknap JK, Moore JN.The records of 71 horses with small intestinal disorders requiring surgical correction were disorders requiring surgical correction were reviewed to compare the prevalence of laminitis in those horses treated prophylactically with heparin and the prevalence of horses not treated with heparin. The prevalence of laminitis was 13% (9/71), and there was no significant difference (P less than 0.05) in the prevalence of laminitis between the 2 groups. The lack of significant benefit after treatment with heparin indicates that further work needs to be done on the equine coagulation system before hepa...
Meagher DM, Aldrete AV.Lateral luxation of the superficial digital flexor tendon from the calcaneal tuber occurs in horses as a result of tearing or rupture of the medial retinaculum of the tendon. This report describes the repair of this condition in 2 Thoroughbred race horses, using a surgical technique in which 2 cancellous bone screws were placed in the calcaneus lateral to the tendon, along with suturing the medial retinaculum.
Vanhaesebroeck B, Grooten J, Fiers W.Using a model of local lymph node (LN) immunization, we investigated the effect of in vivo Ir on the generation of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells or their precursors. Ag used for immunization were SRBC, horse RBC, OVA, keyhole limpet hemocyanin, or CFA. Ag-draining LN, in the acute phase of the Ir, did not contain detectable LAK effector activity, nor an enhanced NK activity. After culture for 3 to 5 days in the absence of exogenously added IL-2, immunized LN cells developed a spontaneous LAK-like cytotoxicity. This activity represented a substantial fraction of the IL-2-generated LAK...
Taylor MA, Hunt KR.The term 'anthelmintic drug resistance' describes the heritable ability of some nematode parasites to survive treatment with anthelmintic drugs at the recommended therapeutic dose levels. Genes for resistance appear to be present in many of the important pathogenic nematodes of ruminants and horses. Under intensive management systems, where heavy reliance is placed on anthelmintic drugs for worm control, the selection of resistant genotypes may result in increased reports of the drugs failing to control the nematode populations against which they are aimed. Anthelmintic resistance has been rep...
Campbell-Thompson M.The goals of surgical therapy in foal gastroduodenal ulcer disease are the elimination of abdominal pain, healing of mucosal ulcerations, and prevention of complications. Gastrojejunostomy has been used with success in both pyloric and duodenal ulcerations that have progressed to gastric outflow obstruction. Gastrojejunostomy has resulted in rapid healing of gastritis and esophagitis and resolution of aspiration pneumonia and biliary stasis without recurrence of duodenal ulceration.
Young DR, Divers TJ, Benson CE.Clinical septicemia developed in 2 clinically normal horses after both were administered a portion of an amino acid solution IV. Serratia marcescens was subsequently isolated from blood of both horses. The isolates were shown to be identical on the basis of antibiograms and plasmid biochemistry, incriminating the infusate as the source of bacterial infection. The horses recovered after supportive and antimicrobial treatment.
Rick MC.Diagnosis, evaluation, and management of the various grades of rectal tears is discussed. Surgical techniques, which include direct closure, diverting colostomies, and placement of temporary rectal liners, are detailed. Also, rectal prolapses and various methods of repair are outlined.
Slocombe JO, Cote JF, McMillan I.Twenty-eight horses with a residual burden of strongyle eggs in the faces after treatment with mebendazole (MBZ) paste were treated with a suspension of either MBZ or oxibendazole (OBZ). Fecal samples were collected before and 14 days after these treatments. The number of strongyle eggs/g (epg) of feces for each horse was estimated using the Cornell-McMaster dilution and the Cornell-Wisconsin double centrifugation procedures. The epg for each horse was transformed using log (x + 1) and in an analysis of variance of the reduction in egg count for each horse on the logarithmic scale, there was a...
Wolfman EF.Operations for intestinal ischemia are frequently done by veterinarians. In equine surgery those conditions commonly producing ischemia are intussusception, volvulus, bowel obstructions, and incarcerated hernias. In an attempt to predict intraoperative bowel viability after the restoration of circulation, a variety of adjuvant methods have been investigated. There is little question that of the techniques currently available, sodium fluorescein injected intravenously approaches the ideal in predicting nonviability in humans and in most animal models. Furthermore, it is safe, takes little opera...
Bertone AL.With large colon resection and anastomosis, up to 95 per cent of the length of the large colon has been successfully removed. A hand-sewn end-to-end anastomosis is effective for lesions in the left dorsal colon and pelvic flexure. Transection and a side-to-side anastomosis with stapling equipment is most effective for extensive resections (greater than 50 per cent). Horses with extensive colon resection (95 per cent) have permanent deficiencies of water absorption and digestion of cellulose and protein. Fermentative capacity is reduced, owing to decreased particulate matter retention time in t...
Ross MW.Cecal impaction and cecal perforation, the two most common equine cecal diseases, are thought to develop after slowing or interruption of a single progressive motility pattern, which begins in a pacemaker area near the apex, occurs once every 3 minutes, and propels ingesta from the cecum to the right ventral colon. Rectal examination in horses with cecal impaction is the most useful technique to grade the severity of the condition. Medical treatment is undertaken if the impaction is judged to be mild to moderate. Surgical correction of cecal impaction in severe cases requires a ventral midline...
Dodman NH, Lehr JL, Spaulding GL, Gavriely N.Three sheep, a foal, a pony, and a calf were anesthetized and ventilated for short periods, using a high-frequency oscillatory ventilator. The efficiency of CO2 elimination was characterized at various oscillatory frequencies (50 to 30 Hz) and various tidal volumes, although the tidal volume used was always less than the measured dead space of the animal. In general, increasing either the oscillatory frequency or tidal volume increased CO2 elimination, but increasing the tidal volume had more effect. The relationship between these 3 variables was best described by a power law equation. Ventila...
Gerring EL.The control mechanisms of gastrointestinal motility are complex. Extrinsic neurohormonal effects modulate an intrinsic system, often called the "gut brain," composed of nervous and neuropeptide components. To exert pharmacologic influence on GI motility, use is made of agents that mimic the external control system. Agents that stimulate opioid receptors, block adrenoceptors, block or facilitate acetylcholine action, or antagonize the action of prostaglandins are used to effect changes in GI motility. The major indications for pharmacologic intervention are to increase motility in constipation,...
Markel MD.Results of these studies have demonstrated that colopexy of the left large colon to the abdominal wall is a relatively simple and quick procedure that is permanent 1 year after surgery. The technique does not appear to be associated with long-term weight loss or abdominal pain after surgery. It has been used in pregnant mares, both experimentally and clinically, without apparent complications. In addition, horses used for pleasure-riding and show hunting have returned to performance and have not had complications. Large colon resection is a useful technique, especially for animals with strangu...
Pascoe JR, Peterson PR.Optimal intestinal healing occurs when like layers of the intestinal wall are aligned. Hand-sewn, double-layer, end-to-end anastomosis that apposes the mucosa and produces slight inversion of the seromuscular layer is recommended to minimize adhesion formation and provide reasonable alignment of the intestinal layers. Stapled, everted, triangulated, end-to-end anastomosis is not recommended because of extensive adhesion formation and poor healing of the intestinal layers. The preferred stapled techniques create an inverting, side-to-side stoma between the bowel segments.
Bertone AL.With large colon resection and anastomosis, up to 95 per cent of the length of the large colon has been successfully removed. A hand-sewn end-to-end anastomosis is effective for lesions in the left dorsal colon and pelvic flexure. Transection and a side-to-side anastomosis with stapling equipment is most effective for extensive resections (greater than 50 per cent). Horses with extensive colon resection (95 per cent) have permanent deficiencies of water absorption and digestion of cellulose and protein. Fermentative capacity is reduced, owing to decreased particulate matter retention time in t...
Snyder JR.Intestinal edema, luminal distention, and ischemia are common pathologic processes involved in producing the intestinal damage found during surgical exploration for acute abdominal disorders in the horse. The severity of intestinal edema depends on the degree of altered intravascular forces and changes in capillary permeability. Capillary hydrostatic pressure rises as the less pliable venules and veins become occluded during intestinal obstruction. Concurrently, the production of various endogenous products that damage the vascular wall leads to increases in capillary permeability and protein ...
Ley WB, Bowen JM, Sponenberg DP, Lessard PN.The effects upon equine endometrial histological features produced by 10 to 30% concentrations of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in sterile saline were compared with the effects of sterile saline (0.9% NaCl) alone as an intrauterine infusion therapy in 16 barren mares. No harmful histological changes were noted (P>0.05) as a result of the therapy. Thirty percent intrauterine DMSO therapy produced a significant (P0.05); however, there was a trend toward a higher pregnancy rate following DMSO therapy. The inability to control for sire variability in the breeding trials may have contributed toward ...
Nilsson O, Lindholm A, Christensson D.A field evaluation of anthelmintics in 336 horses on 37 farms was conducted between February and May 1986 in Sweden. The herds, each comprising at least eight horses, had histories of grazing on permanent pastures and receiving regular treatments against parasites at least three times a year. Small strongyles were refractory to (pro)-benzimidazole drugs in all but one of 23 herds examined. There was an average reduction in egg output of approximately 60%, and approximately 30% of 205 horses examined were shedding less than 100 eggs g-1 7 days after treatment. There was great between-herd varia...
Beeman GM, Soule SG, Swanson TD.This article reviews the history of the medical evaluation of the horse for purchase and the gradual development of definitions and guidelines for performing such an examination. The philosophy of pre-purchase examinations, including potential conflicts of interest, recording methods, and procedures, is discussed. The AAEP guidelines for reporting purchase evaluations are also included.
May CJ, Greenwood RE.A thoroughbred foal had a convulsive attack 12 hours after birth followed by further convulsions on the 10th, 11th and 12th days after birth. It was treated successfully by medication with primidone, feeding by stomach tube and careful nursing.
Wilson DV, Berney CE, Peroni DL, Mullineaux DR, Robinson NE.Acupuncture may be recommended for horses with 'heaves' because it is being increasingly applied to treat human asthma. Therefore, its efficacy was investigated in horses with this asthma-like disease. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a single acupuncture treatment for the relief of airway obstruction in heaves-affected horses. Methods: The efficacy of a single acupuncture treatment was tested in 10 heaves-affected horses, and the effect of removal from the dusty stall environment in 5 heaves-affected horses. Before treatment, horses were stabled to induce airway obstruction and, apart f...
McGorum BC, Railton DI, Clarke CJ, Dixon PM, Woodman MP, Long KJ.Hydatid cysts (metacestode of Echinococcus grunulosus) are a
common incidental post-mortem finding in horses in the United
Kingdom (Cranley 1982), being found most frequently in the liver
and the lungs (Schwabe 1986). However, hydatid cysts are well
tolerated by horses and clinical hydatidosis is rare, even in
heavily infected animals (Thompson and Smyth 1975; Thompson
and Allsopp 1988). Clinical disease has been attributed to hydatid
cysts in the equine retrobulbar region (Bamett et ul. 1988), brain
(Gordon 1974, quoted by Thompson 1977) and liver (Barvaux
and Derzelle 1947). This is...
Smyth GB, Taylor EG.A Salter-Harris type-II fracture of the proximal portion of the right femur in a 2-month-old filly was reduced and stabilized with three 6.5-mm-diameter, 100-mm-long cancellous bone screws through a dorsal approach to the right coxofemoral joint. The screws were removed after 11 months because the filly became lame in the affected limb. The surgical wounds dehisced despite preventive measures, most likely because of tightness of skin in the coxal region. Seven years after the original injury, the horse could perform vigorous paddock exercise without any disability. Early internal fixation of p...
Van Amstel SR, Ross M, van den Bergh SS.A case of maduromycosis mycetoma caused by Madurella mycetomatis is reported. The horse presented with multiple subcutaneous swelling over the right scapula. There were no discharging fistulae present. Macroscopically the lesion contained a black granular material embedded in a granulomatous mass. Microscopically large numbers of microcolonies were present containing segmented hyphae. No typical chlamydospores were observed. Cultures yielded a fungus identified as Madurella mycetomatis. Treatment consisted of surgical excision and local treatment with thiabendazole powder.
Bras GE, Kersjes AW.Comparative studies were done on healing of the wound following laparotomy through the ventral wall of the abdomen (paramedian incision or in the linea alba) in seventy horses and following surgical treatment of umbilical hernia in eighty-five (young) horses, in which perlon, (chromic) catgut, stainless steel wire and polyglycollic acid were used as suture material. Though with some reserve, as the study was concerned with the comparison of findings in clinical cases in which a number of conditions may vary, it is concluded that steel wire and polyglycollic acid are preferable to perlon and (c...