Surgical treatment of dorsal cortical fractures of the third metacarpal bone in thoroughbred racehorses: 53 cases (1985-1989).

The study examines the surgical treatment of dorsal cortical fractures of the third metacarpal bone in thoroughbred racehorses and suggests that osteostixis, a cortical drilling through the fracture line, may be an effective treatment method.

Study Population and Method

• Between January 1985 and May 1989, 53 thoroughbred horses with an average age of 3.2 years were treated for dorsal cortical fractures of the third metacarpal bone, a type of bone fracture.
• The surgical treatment applied was osteostixis, a process in which the fracture line is drilled through to aid in healing.
• All fractures were confirmed through xeroradiography, an imaging technique.

Results

• Post-treatment, 47 horses were able to return to racing, constituting an 89% success rate for the surgical method.
• The mean time between surgery and return to racing was approximately 6.8 months.
• On average, horses had about 10.9 races before and 16.1 races after the surgery.
• The mean earnings of the horses per start before surgery were seen to be marginally higher compared to the earnings after surgery, where it dropped from $6,459 to $5,685 on average.
• Interestingly, of the 47 horses that returned to racing, 70% continued to race at the same class or saw an improvement.

Complications

• Post-surgery complications were observed in 10 horses, including two instances of the horse suffering a second fracture at the same site, with fractured drill bits left in the bone of 4 horses.
• Two horses developed subcutaneous infections while another two experienced a failure of the treated limb, termed catastrophic failure of MC III in the study.
• The two horses with a second fracture underwent osteostixis again, both successfully returning to competition afterwards.

Conclusion

• Overall, the study concludes that osteostixis appears to be an effective treatment method for helping thoroughbred racehorses affected with dorsal cortical fractures return to racing.