Surgical management of marginal tears/avulsions of the suspensory ligament branches in 29 Thoroughbred racehorses.

The research focuses on the specific injury of the abaxial margin of suspensory ligament branches in Thoroughbred racehorses, its surgical response, and prognosis. Twenty-nine cases were studied over a 9-year period and the results suggested that this type of injury represents a previously undescribed subgroup amongst suspensory ligament branch injuries.

Objective and Methods

• The main goal of the study was to report a specific type of injury occurring along the abaxial margin of suspensory ligament branches in Thoroughbred racehorses, and its management and outcome after surgical intervention.
• Data for the study was retrospectively collected over a 9-year period, from 2007 to 2015.
• The horses with suspensory ligament branch injuries who, through ultrasonographic examination, seemed to have defects in the abaxial margin of the suspensory ligament branch, and had this confirmed through surgery, were selected for the study.

Results

• Out of the 29 horses that met the inclusion criteria, 19 were able to successfully compete in races post-surgery.
• Nine of the horses returned to training but failed to start racing again and one horse was lost to follow-up and therefore, no details were available for that case.

Conclusions

• Due to the absence of a similar population of horses that had not undergone surgery for comparison, the effectiveness of the surgical intervention in managing this injury could not be confidently assessed.
• However, the consistency in location and injury morphology suggested a common cause.
• The research suggests that this type of injury is distinctive from the other types of suspensory ligament branch injuries, representing an undescribed subgroup within these types of injuries.