Use of imipramine hydrochloride for treatment of urospermia in a stallion with a dysfunctional bladder.

The research investigates the effects of imipramine hydrochloride for treating urospermia in a stallion suffering from bladder dysfunction and recurrent urinary tract infections. Despite other attempts, the administration of imipramine hydrochloride was significant in producing quality ejaculate that resulted in successful mare pregnancies for two years before the stallion’s bladder dysfunction worsened.

Problem and Hypothesis

• The research focuses on an 8-year-old stallion with recurrent urinary tract infections and chronic intermittent urospermia.
• After diagnostic testing, it was hypothesized that the stallion had a reflex dyssynergia between the bladder and urethral sphincter.
• The main challenge was to reliably yield quality ejaculate for breeding purposes.

Initial Management Attempts

• Initial management for the urospermia included semen fractionation, semen collection after voluntary urination, and use of semen extenders. However, none of these methods provided a satisfying solution.

Imipramine Hydrochloride Treatment

• The stallion was administered imipramine hydrochloride (1.2 mg/kg of body weight, orally), 4 hours prior to semen collection.
• This treatment attempted to enhance bladder neck closure during ejaculation, reducing urine’s presence in the ejaculate.
• Complemented with voluntary urination before ejaculation, this procedure resulted in quality ejaculates with little to no urine for around 2 years. 19 out of 20 mares bred during this period became pregnant.

Following Years

• By the third year, the stallion’s bladder dysfunction worsened, making the urospermia unmanageable again.
• Bladder catheterization and manual expression of the bladder per rectum were necessary to collect a urine-free ejaculate.

Stallion’s Health Deterioration

• Three-and-a-half years after the initial examination, the stallion was diagnosed with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder with metastasis.
• It was unclear whether the cancer was related to the dysfunctional bladder. Eventually, due to health deterioration, the stallion was euthanized.
• Imipramine hydrochloride effectively managed the urospermia for 2 years, resulting in successful pregnancies.