Intrathecal deep digital flexor tenectomy for treatment of septic tendonitis/tenosynovitis in four horses.

This research paper describes a surgical procedure performed on horses suffering from chronic septic tendonitis and tenosynovitis, conditions unresponsive to conventional treatments. The long-term results and implications of this treatment method are recorded and reported in the study.

Objective and Methodology

• The study aimed to explore and discuss the procedure of partially removing the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) in horses suffering from chronic septic DDF tendonitis and tenosynovitis. The chronic conditions in the horses were unresponsive to the conventional therapies previously applied.
• The researchers adopted a case series method, with the subjects comprising of four horses with the condition described. The surgical procedure for tenectomy (a surgical operation that involves the division or resection of a tendon) of the intrathecal (occurring within or introduced into the spinal theca) component of the DDFT was followed by stabilization in casts and subsequent corrective shoeing for the horses.

Previous Unsuccessful Treatments

• The horses had previously been unsuccessfully managed with a range of conventional treatments which included systemic antibiotics, through and through tendon sheath lavage (cleaning), open drainage, regional limb perfusions (process of delivering a high dose of chemotherapy to an isolated limb via a blood circuit), tenoscopy with debridement (the medical removal of dead, damaged, or infected tissue to improve the healing potential of the remaining healthy tissue) and transection (cutting across) of the palmar/plantar annular ligament, and intrathecal antibiotics.

Results and Conclusion

• The results of the study showed that the time from the initial injury or diagnosis to tenectomy ranged between 10 to 210 days. The mean hospitalization time after the surgery was measured as 82 days. Long-term follow-up of more than 1.5 years, with an average of 3.8 years, was available and recorded.
• Post-procedure, all four horses were able to walk comfortably at pasture and were used as broodmares. This led the researchers to conclude that intrathecal tenectomy is a viable and effective surgical procedure for the treatment of chronic septic tenosynovitis of the digital sheath complicated by septic tendonitis of the DDFT.