Orgotein in equine navicular disease: a double blind study.

This research investigates the effectiveness of orgotein treatment in horses diagnosed with navicular disease by comparing it to placebo in a double-blind study. The results suggest that orgotein may be beneficial, as three out of seven horses treated with this medicine showed improvement, which was not observed in any of the horses treated with placebo.

Understanding navicular disease

• Navicular disease is a common ailment in horses that affects the navicular bone and associated structures in the hoof, leading to lameness.
• Its causes include poor conformation, work on hard or uneven surfaces, improper trimming and shoeing, among other genetic and environmental factors.

Research methodology

• The researchers conducted a double-blind study involving 14 horses diagnosed with navicular disease based on clinical and radiographic evidence, dividing them randomly into two groups.
• One group of seven horses was treated with orgotein, a drug that has antioxidant properties, while the other group was administered a placebo. Both treatments were administered through a juxtabursal injection, which is an injection near a bursa. A bursa is a fluid-filled sac that helps decrease friction between tissues.

Results of the study

• Out of the seven horses treated with orgotein, three responded positively to the treatment and showed signs of improvement.
• However, none of the horses in the placebo group showed any change in their condition. This difference in the response to treatment was deemed statistically significant with P value less than 0.05, suggesting that the observed improvement was unlikely due to chance.

Implications of the Findings

• The study opens up the possibility of a potential new treatment for horses suffering from navicular disease, a currently incurable but manageable condition.
• The findings may spur further research into the suitability of orgotein as a medically proposed intervention for navicular disease, extending clinical trials to larger sample sizes for more robust findings.