Pathology in horses involves the study of diseases and abnormalities affecting equine health, encompassing a range of conditions that can impact various systems within the horse's body. This field examines the causes, mechanisms, and effects of diseases, as well as the structural and functional changes they induce in equine tissues and organs. Common pathological conditions in horses include laminitis, colic, equine infectious anemia, and respiratory disorders. Understanding these diseases involves evaluating clinical signs, diagnostic methods, and treatment options. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the etiology, pathogenesis, and clinical implications of pathological conditions in horses.
Hillidge CJ.Idiopathic left-sided laryngeal paralysis was present in 14 of 169 horses on a thoroughbred horse farm (8.3 per cent). In nine animals, it was evident only after exercise and arytenoid abduction and adduction were normal at rest. Asynchronous movement of the arytenoid cartilages was observed in 94 horses at rest (55.6 per cent), 86 of which were considered to be normal after exercise. Conversely, synchronous movement of the arytenoids was noted when at rest in six of the 14 animals diagnosed as having laryngeal hemiplegia after exercise. An abnormal inspiratory noise during exercise was detect...
Mair TS, Taylor FG, Gibbs C, Lucke VM.THE horse appears to possess a strong innate resistance to
tuberculosis because the disease is infrequently recognised even
in countries where the condition is common in other species
(Luke 1958). Reports of the disease are now scarce and earlier
records of infections in horses usually implicated the bovine
strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, although avian and
human strains have been isolated. Of 55 equine cases reviewed
by Griffith (1937), 53 were caused by the bovine strain and two
were independently infected with avian and human strains.
Since the implementation of the bovine tu...
Mendoza L, Alfaro AA.Thirty-nine pythiosis equine cases, were studied at the Veterinary Medicine School of the National University of Costa Rica, between 1981 and 1984. Lesions were located in different parts of their anatomy: anterior and posterior extremities, abdomen, thorax, breast and mammary gland, and were characterized by their tumoral appearance with necrotic tissue in which yellow-white coral-like necrotic masses, called kunker or leeches were shown. Splendore-Hoeppli like phenomenon and eosinophilic inflammatory reaction around the hyphae, was microscopically observed. Pythium sp. (Hyphomyces destruens)...
Moore PF, Hacker DV, Buyukmihci NC.Angiosarcomas arising in ocular tissues of four aging horses are described. Tumors were locally invasive and eventually metastasized via the mandibular and cervical lymph nodes. Pathologically, the tumors contained well-differentiated regions, in which vascular channels were lined by pleomorphic endothelial cells, as well as poorly-differentiated regions, in which vascular channels were either rudimentary or absent. Red blood cells were scare in vascular structures formed by the tumors. Factor VIII related antigen (VIII:RAg), a blood vascular endothelial marker, was demonstrated by immunohisto...
Greene HJ, O'Connor JP.A 16-year old thoroughbred mare was presented with dysphagia and food being ejected from the mouth and nostrils. Clinical signs were exhibited for three weeks before it was euthanased on humanitarian grounds. Post mortem examination revealed a soft haemangioma measuring 7 cm X 5 cm suspended from the roof of the medial compartment of the left guttural pouch.
Al-Mashat RR, Taylor DJ.Thirty-three species of bacteria were isolated from the gastrointestinal mucosa of 23 adult horses and two foals. The bacteria isolated could be related to gross and microscopical lesions in some cases. Clostridium perfringens type A, Actinobacillus equuli, Salmonella typhimurium and Campylobacter coli biotype 1 could all be associated with gastrointestinal lesions. C jejuni biotype 1 and Aeromonas hydrophila were both recovered in this study and have been identified as causes of enteritis in horses or in other species. The case of C coli enteritis appears to be the first such report. The diff...
Bertone JJ, Traub-Dargatz JL, Trotter GW.Endoscopic examination of a 7-year-old gelding with weight loss indicated a palatal defect with a prominent tissue mass at the caudomedial margin of the defect. At necropsy, the condition was determined to be bilateral hypoplasia of the soft palate.
Markel MD, Madigan JE, Lichtensteiger CA, Large SM, Hornof WJ.Over a 4-year period, vertebral body abscess was diagnosed in 5 young cattle. The laboratory findings in most of these cases did not suggest a diagnosis of vertebral body abscess. The most important basis for diagnosis of this condition was a thorough neurologic examination. In 4 cases, necropsy revealed abscesses in the lungs or thoracic cavity as well, suggesting that a history of pneumonia preceding paresis may favor the diagnosis of vertebral body abscess.
Martin GS, Beadle RE, Haynes PF, Watters JW.The ventral-to-dorsal height of the rima glottidis was measured from lateral pharyngeal radiographs after correction for magnification. The rima glottidis height was used to enlarge accurately endoscopic photographs of 5 horses taken before and after transection of the left recurrent laryngeal nerve. Areas of the rima glottidis and aditus laryngis were measured, using a computerized digitizer. Mean area of the aditus laryngis was 1,908 mm2 before neurectomy and 1,346 mm2 after neurectomy (P = 0.025). Mean area of the rima glottidis was 1,198 mm2 before neurectomy and 805 mm2 after neurectomy (...
Mäkinen A, Katila T, Kuokkanen MT.Only one X chromosome was found in each of the lymphocyte metaphases studied in an infertile mare. Karyotype analysis was made with the CBG and GTG banding techniques. The most obvious clinical abnormality was gonadal hypoplasia.
Deegen E.With the aid of a flexible glassfibre endoscope, a 300 W cold light source and a special adapted camera, colour photographs of the upper respiratory tract of horses were taken. These pictures served to present especially the disease processes of the different areas of the upper respiratory tract which lead to a constriction of the lumen. These included proliferation in the nose, guttural pouch diseases and larynx diseases such as hemiplegia, subepiglottic cysts, epiglottic entrapment and rostral displacement of the plica palatopharyngica. Furthermore endoscopic findings of changes in the soft ...
MacHarg MA, Adams SB, Lamar CH, Becht JL.Bipolar electrodes, strain gauge force transducers, intraluminal pressure recording catheters, and extraluminal intestinal obstructors were surgically implanted in 4 ponies to record myoelectrical and mechanical activity of the distal portion of the jejunum and ileum. After determining normal intestinal activity and pressures, the distal portion of the jejunum was obstructed with an extraluminal obstructor. Myoelectrical and mechanical activity recorded from jejunal segments proximal to the obstruction increased significantly (P less than 0.01), whereas activity distal to the obstruction remai...
Cho DY, Taylor HW.Blind-end atresia coli was observed in two genetically unrelated foals at about the same time and location. The two foals, one an Appaloosa and the other a Quarterhorse, were born 4 days apart on nearby but separate farms. The Appaloosa foal died after surgical anastomosis of the affected segments of the colon. The Quarterhorse foal was euthanized after the defect was found at laparotomy. Both foals were necropsied and representative tissues were examined histopathologically. Histopathologic results were unremarkable. No cause of the defects could be determined and the timing and geographical ...
Kold SE, Hickman J, Melsen F.Four full thickness cartilage defects, two linear and two elliptical, and four subchondral cavity defects were created at the point of weightbearing of the medial femoral condyle in four experimental ponies. This study showed that subchondral bone cysts can develop following full thickness (cartilage only) linear cartilage defects at a weightbearing location. Subchondral bone cysts did not develop following the removal of an elliptical piece of cartilage, exposing the subchondral bone. Primary subchondral defects created in communication with the joint cavity did not heal by replacement with b...
Nap RC, Wouda W, Firth EC, Dik K, von Dijk P.The case of a horse affected with frontal sinusitis, in which neurological complications occurred following trepanation, is reported. The previous history of the animal as well as the clinical, radiological and pathological findings are discussed.
Brown AE, Hansen PJ, Asbury AC.Uterine flushings collected from mares before and after bacterial-induced inflammation were assayed for ability to opsonize Streptococcus zooepidemicus for phagocytosis by polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Opsonization was measured as the peak phagocytic rate of bacteria preincubated with uterine flushings relative to the peak phagocytic rate of unopsonized bacteria. Flushings from four mares with noninfected uteri were unable to opsonize bacteria regardless of whether uteri were flushed at estrus or on day 10 postovulation. In a second experiment, 7 X 10(9) live S. zooepidemicus were inoculated i...
Yovich JV, Powers BE, Stashak TS.The intervertebral disks and adjacent vertebral bodies of the 2nd to 7th cervical vertebrae from 17 horses (3 months to 19 years of age) were examined grossly and by light microscopy. In each specimen, the disk tissue was fibrocartilagenous centrally and became more fibrous peripherally, but without a distinct demarcation between the nucleus pulposus and anulus fibrosus. Demarcation between the anulus fibrosus and the dorsal longitudinal ligament was not apparent. With increasing age of the horses, cellularity of the central fibrocartilagenous portion of the disk decreased. The caudal end plat...
Watkins JP, Auer JA, Gay S, Morgan SJ.Full-thickness defects were surgically created in the superficial digital flexor tendons of the front limbs of 20 horses. Tissues formed within the defect were evaluated histologically, and the collagen composition of the tissue was determined by immunofluorescence. Transformation occurred from loose fibrillar areas of types I and III collagen and pericellular types IV and V collagen to dense bundles of type I collagen fibers. Loose fibrillar areas of types I and III collagen were present after 24 weeks. Histologically, in horses killed after 2 weeks, the tissue within the defect was a randoml...
Flynn C, Forster HV, Pan LG, Bisgard GE.The objective of this study was to determine the role of hilar nerve (lung vagal) afferents in the hyperpnea of exercise. Ten ponies were studied before and 2-4 wk and 3-12 mo after sectioning only the hilar branches of the vagus nerves (HND). After HND, lung volume feedback to the medullary centers was attenuated as indicated in the anesthetized state by 1) attenuation or absence of the Hering-Breuer inflation reflex (P less than 0.01) and 2) attenuation of the lengthened inspiratory time (TI) when the airway was occluded at end expiration (P less than 0.01). Moreover, after HND in the awake ...
Rossdale PD, Jeffcott LB, Leadon DP.The development and design of a project in collaborative research which originated from a problem identified in practice, namely prematurity in the newly born foal, is described here. The project established a model of equine prematurity for the purpose of studying the diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment of the condition. It involved practitioners and full time research workers in a number of veterinary and medical institutes.
Koblik PD, Hornof WJ.Survey thoracic radiography, although limited by physical considerations in the adult horse, can supply clinically useful information about changes in cardiac size and function. The radiographic features of cardiomegaly, altered pulmonary circulation, pulmonary edema, and pleural effusion as manifested in the horse are discussed. Nuclear cardiology can be performed in the standing horse. The initial transit of a radioactive tracer through the central circulation provides information about cardiac chamber size, efficiency of ventricular contraction, valvular competence, and presence of intracar...
Timoney JF, Eggers D.An indirect test based on horse blood was used to study bactericidal responses of the horse to Streptococcus equi following infection or vaccination. Bactericidal antibody appeared in convalescent sera between two and four weeks and high titres were usually attained by eight weeks. Infection without clinical evidence of abscessation was also effective in eliciting strong bactericidal responses. Serum bactericidal activity of horses either recovered from strangles or immunised with commercial bacterin had declined eight months after vaccination. However, horses that developed strangles eight to...
Mäkinen A, Katila T, Kuokkanen MT.Only one X chromosome was found in each of the lymphocyte metaphases studied in an infertile mare. Karyotype analysis was made with the CBG and GTG banding techniques. The most obvious clinical abnormality was gonadal hypoplasia.
Jongbloets AM, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM, Meeus PJ, Back W.Equine canker is a chronic, hyperplastic, exudative pododermatitis affecting one or more feet. Although many causes and treatments have been suggested, the cause of the disease is still unknown and most probably multifactorial. Local treatments include radical surgical debridement of the diseased hoof tissue and application of caustic substances, antibiotics, and pressure bandaging. Nevertheless, the number of recurrences is high (45%). This article presents a 3-year-old New Forest pony-cross mare in which all horny structures (frogs, coronets, spurs, chestnuts) of all feet were affected. Bact...
Boyd JS.The deformities observed in 2 Clydesdale foals are described. Both had abnormal joint positions in the forelimbs and discrepancies in the symmetry of the vertebral column. The changes were only mild in one case but extreme in the other where it was accompanied by torticollis, scoliosis and vertebral fusion. A comparison is made with deformities described in the contracted foal syndrome and some of the developmental implications discussed.
Uhlhorn H, Eksell P, Sandgren B, Carlsten J.To assess the significance of radiographic signs of sclerosis of the third carpal bone (C3) in young Standardbred trotters in relation to performance, lameness and bone turnover both carpi in 14 Standardbred trotters were radiographically and scintigraphically examined 6 times, from the beginning of speed training until the beginning of racing, between the mean ages of 20 and 42 months. At the end of the study 8 horses had raced in official qualifying races and 14 limbs in 11 horses had been diagnosed with carpal lameness. All horses but 2 developed sclerosis and all but one had increased bone...