A retrospective evaluation of the surgical management of equine carpal injury.

The research investigates the surgical management of carpal injuries in thoroughbred horses, reviewing records of 220 horses, and assessing their racing performance post-surgery against a control group. It identifies effective surgical methods, key areas for x-ray examination, and reports the percentage of horses that returned to racing, along with their earnings post-surgery.

Method of Study

• The study is a retrospective evaluation involving records from 220 thoroughbred horses that underwent surgical treatments for carpal injuries at the Randwick Equine Centre or the University of Queensland Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
• Control horses, which did not suffer from carpal injuries, were randomly selected from the Australian Stud Book and the Australian Racehorse Register, and they were age and sex-matched to the treated horses.
• The researchers obtained details about the horses’ racing performances, which allowed them to evaluate the success rate of the surgery in terms of its impact on subsequent racing.

Key Findings

• The researchers found out that osteochondral fractures were most commonly located at the dorsomedial aspects of the distal articular surface of the radial carpal bone and the proximal articular surface of the third carpal bone.
• Bilateral carpal injury, affecting both limbs, was sufficiently common to warrant a routine radiographic examination of both limbs.
• The most useful views for evaluating carpal degenerative joint diseases were the dorsolareral-palmaromedial oblique, flexed lateral, and dorsoproximal-dorsodistal oblique (skyline) projections.

Surgical Treatments and Recovery

• The study affirmed that the surgical removal of osteochondral fractures through arthrotomy or arthroscopy was a vital method of treatment.
• Interestingly, arthroscopy was associated with a significantly shorter recovery period than arthrotomy.
• Post-surgery, about 76% of the treated horses returned to racing.
• While the average earnings following the surgery were $20,000, the study acknowledges a significant disparity in individual earnings with a median value of just $1400 and nearly half of the treated population failing to earn more than $1000.

Performance Comparison

• The study also found that male horses in both the treated and the control groups performed significantly better than females.
• Moreover, the horses that were treated for carpal injuries performed significantly better than the randomly selected control population, thereby illustrating the effectiveness of the surgical intervention.