Effects of pulmonary abscesses on racing performance of horses treated at referral veterinary medical teaching hospitals: 45 cases (1985-1997).
Abstract: To determine whether results of physical or radiographic examination or biochemical analyses in adult racehorses with primary lung abscesses were associated with ability to race following treatment. Methods: Multiple-center retrospective study. Methods: 25 Standardbreds and 20 Thoroughbreds. Methods: Medical records of horses with a primary lung abscess that were admitted to any of 4 veterinary teaching hospitals were reviewed. Results of physical examination, laboratory testing, and thoracic radiography were reviewed. Racing performance after treatment was compared with performance before illness and with performance of the general population of racehorses of similar age, sex, and breed. Results: 23 of 25 Standardbreds and 13 of 20 Thoroughbreds raced after diagnosis and treatment of a lung abscess. Most horses had a solitary abscess in the dorsal to caudodorsal lung fields. Results of initial physical examination, biochemical analyses, and culture and identification of the microbial isolate were not associated with whether a horse returned to racing. For horses that had raced prior to the illness, race performance after treatment of the lung abscess was not significantly different from performance before the illness. Conclusions: On the basis of racing performance in those horses that resumed racing after treatment, long-term residual lung damage did not develop in horses with primary lung abscesses that were treated appropriately. It is not known whether horses that recovered would be more likely to bleed from the site of a prior infection when resuming strenuous exercise and whether lung abscesses contributed to a failure to resume racing.
Publication Date: 2000-04-18 PubMed ID: 10767971DOI: 10.2460/javma.2000.216.1282Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
- Multicenter Study
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
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This research investigated whether results from physical or radiographic examination or biochemical analysis in adult racehorses with primary lung abscesses affected their ability to race after treatment. Reviewing data from four veterinary teaching hospitals, the study found that the presence of a primary lung abscess did not affect the horse’s ability to return to racing, nor does it negatively affect their performance compared to before their illness.
Research Methodology
- The study used a multi-center retrospective approach, reviewing the medical records of 45 racehorses (25 Standardbreds and 20 Thoroughbreds) admitted to four veterinary teaching hospitals with a primary lung abscess.
- Information from physical examinations, laboratory tests, thoracic radiography was collected and analyzed.
- The performance of these horses post-treatment was compared to their performance prior to the illness and also against the performance of a general population of racehorses of similar age, sex, and breed.
Findings and Results
- It was found that 23 Standardbreds and 13 Thoroughbreds were able to return to racing after diagnosis and treatment.
- Most of the horses had a single abscess located in the dorsal to caudodorsal lung fields.
- No association was found between the results of initial physical examinations, biochemical analyses, culture and identification of microbial isolates, and the horse’s ability to return to racing.
- The performance of the horses that had raced before the illness was not significantly different before and after the treatment of the lung abscess.
Conclusions
- The study concluded that, based on the racing performance of those horses that returned to racing after treatment, long-term residual lung damage did not develop in horses with primary lung abscesses that were treated appropriately.
- However, the study does not answer whether horses that recovered would be more likely to bleed from the site of a prior infection when undertaking vigorous exercise and whether lung abscesses contributed to a failure to resume racing.
Cite This Article
APA
Ainsworth DM, Erb HN, Eicker SW, Yeagar AE, Viel L, Sweeney CR, Lavoie JP.
(2000).
Effects of pulmonary abscesses on racing performance of horses treated at referral veterinary medical teaching hospitals: 45 cases (1985-1997).
J Am Vet Med Assoc, 216(8), 1282-1287.
https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.2000.216.1282 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Breeding
- Female
- Horse Diseases / diagnosis
- Horse Diseases / drug therapy
- Horse Diseases / physiopathology
- Horses
- Lung / diagnostic imaging
- Lung / microbiology
- Lung Abscess / diagnosis
- Lung Abscess / drug therapy
- Lung Abscess / physiopathology
- Lung Abscess / veterinary
- Male
- Physical Conditioning, Animal
- Physical Examination / veterinary
- Radiography
- Records / veterinary
- Retrospective Studies
- Running
- Sports
- Treatment Outcome
Citations
This article has been cited 3 times.- Cullinane A, Garvey M, Walsh C, Gibbons J, Creighton A. A Scoping Review of Non-Structural Airway Disease as a Cause of Poor Performance in Racehorses. Animals (Basel) 2023 Jan 27;13(3).
- Arroyo MG, Slovis NM, Moore GE, Taylor SD. Factors Associated with Survival in 97 Horses with Septic Pleuropneumonia. J Vet Intern Med 2017 May;31(3):894-900.
- Kim S, Carrillo M, Kulkarni V, Jagadeeswaran P. Evolution of primary hemostasis in early vertebrates. PLoS One 2009 Dec 23;4(12):e8403.
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