Short-term cast immobilisation is effective in reducing lesion propagation in a surgical model of equine superficial digital flexor tendon injury.

This research suggests that applying cast immobilisation for 10 days can effectively reduce both the length and width of tendon lesions in an equine model of artificially-induced tendon injuries, which may help to improve prognosis.

Study Objective and Methods

• The aim of this study was to evaluate how effective lower limb cast immobilisation would be on tendon lesion propagation in an equine (horse) model of surgically induced superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) injury.
• The superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) is crucial in horse locomotion, and injuries to this tendon can lead to significant setbacks in the horse’s performance and wellbeing.
• In this procedure, core lesions were created surgically in both front SDFTs of 6 fully-grown young horses. After this surgery, one leg from each horse was put in a lower limb cast, leaving the other (control) leg merely bandaged for 10 days.

Data Collection and Analysis

• Data collection involved using an ultrasound to measure the length and width of the tendon lesions at several time points over 42 days. On Day 42, the horses were euthanized and both SDFTs were cut up at every centimetre to assess the lesion length visibly.
• Statistical analysis was employed to compare the outcomes between the casted and control legs, with recognized statistical significance set at P<0.05.

Study Results

• The results showed that when all time points were conflated, the tendon lesion length in the casted legs was 19% shorter, and the lesion width was 57% smaller, than in the bandaged (control) legs.
• Furthermore, on the 42nd day, the visible lesion length on cut-up assessment was 19% shorter in the casted legs than in the control legs.

Study Conclusions

• The research concluded that 10-day cast immobilisation effectively slowed down the propagation of both the length and width of tendon lesions as compared to a simple bandaging in the in-vivo model of artificially-induced tendon lesions.
• The study suggests that short-term cast immobilisation during the initial healing phase could be an uncomplicated and cost-effective method to limit the initial enlargement of tendon lesions, thereby improving the prognosis of SDFT injuries in horses.