annular ligament desmotomy (tendon injury)

[Smurphy]

Has anyones horse had this op? It has been suggest that my horse should have this op after SFT injury to decrease the chances of him re -injuring himself.

What are your views/experience on this op, my horse is 14 and GA puts me off plus the op will be over £2k, i am insured up to 5k but my vet fees are nearly 3k already.

 

[oofadoofa]

My friend's horse was lame and it was suggested that the horse had this op. However, horse has now come sound and is back in full work. She spoke to a lot of people and vets about the operation and was given quotes of between £1500 and £2500 for the op, some vets even suggested that it could be done under a local anaesthetic. She was also told that the care afterwards was quite intense and going with the local anaesthetic route would require more aftercare. She spoke to one well known eventer about the op who said that she had had 3 horses done who had all come sound and were competing at RC level again.

Sorry, probably not much use as she didn't go through with the op, but she did get a lot of views and in the end decided against it for that horse.

 

[Tanta]

My mare had the op about 10 years ago - it cost me less than £1000 at the time - including staying at the vets for several days afterwards with them making sure they dressed the wound properly and made her do the required exercise. She was about 14 at the time too - actually took her a long time to come properly sound again afterwards during which we bred 2 foals from her - then loaned her out and she was happily in light work for a few years. Good luck whatever you decide - like you i was worried about a GA, but she coped fine, and it did prolong her ridden career.

 

[kizzywiz]

My pony Meg has had this op on 3 legs!! She is now nearly 19, sound & still competing at elementary dressage & a little bit of jumping for fun, it was a good few years ago so can't remember the cost, the aftercare was very intense as it was done by open surgery. My other pony Kizzy has just had the op on her right hind 11 weeks ago by keyhole surgery, as well as removal of the manica flexoria at the same time. She had 6 weeks box rest, could graze in hand as soon as she was home from Liphook, after 10 days 10 minutes walk in hand twice daily. Then progressed to turn out in a round pen, & 8 weeks after surgery began ridden walking for 4 weeks, have to build up to 45 minutes daily. At 12 weeks she can turn out normally & begin to have trot work introduced, she then goes for a scan. If all is well, then a further 3 weeks building up trot, then introduce canter for a further 4 weeks fittening, then we will be back to normal. She was level in walk as soon as she was home, & is sound & happy. The cost was about £2,600 just for the op, plus the extra scans & stuff beforehand. Hope that helps, good luck.

 

[aakers]

my horse had this op a few years back. unfortunately he never came sound again but it was worth a go.
Get a 2nd opnion if in doubt.

 

[star]

i cant quite see how it will help him not reinjure himself ???

my horse had the op for a primary desmitis of the annular ligaments - it worked for a few months but then he tweaked it in the field again. turned him away for 18months and he's now sound, but at 22 i only go for the odd hack on him now.

 

[joannemarson]

My mare had this op done 2 years ago. It was £800 for the op, while they were doing it they found a tear to the ddft. I think (but i could be wrong as im no vet am my memory is useless so dont shout at me!) that the ligament tightening had something to do with the tear happening. she was on box rest with hand walking for 6 months. she had a very poor prognosis but after alot of tlc she is now 100% sound and iv been riding her for over a year and we did a 15 mile pleasure ride on very rough going and she is spot on. Vet was amazed but we had a magnetic band on her while she was recovering which im convinced helped.
I couldnt not have had her done as the pressure in her leg was terrible, she had 2 lumps either side of her fetlock the size of eggs and she wouldnt have come right without the treatment.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[jules34]

My mare had an Annular Ligament Desmotomy last year after she injured herself in the field. She tore it very badly, and initially had 2 months box rest. She was still lame after 2 months box rest, so the vet suggested she go to equine specialist hospital to have second opinion (nerve blocks) and then op if necessary. They agreed with my vet, so she had op day before my birthday under GA using key hole surgery.

After 2 days she came home, and walked down the ramp off the lorry with no lameness. She looked great. 8 days later she was very, very ill - she had cellulitis from the op and dragged bad leg along the ground. It was so awful to see her in so much pain, when she had been doing so well. She had to go back to hospital for 1 week, where they filled her leg with 3-4 different anti-biotics. They put a tourniquet around her leg, and injected the drugs directly

she was very ill. She was also having lots of anti-biotics intravenously in her neck. Luckily, the infection did not go in her tendon sheath, and she came home after a week. We did not know what damage the cellulitis had done, and the worry with this op is getting adhesions with the tendons.

She began 5 minutes hand walking twice a day, gradually increasing to 20 mins twice a day, and she was allowed on the horsewalker, which made life easier. After another 3 months box rest (5 in total) she was allowed out into a small paddock.

I started riding her just over a year ago, and am very glad to say she is sound, and doing very well. We mainly do hacking, but she loves going on fun/sponsored rides.

My story is quite unusual - Annular Ligament Desmotomy's are usually very successfull, but I just wanted to warn you about what happened to my girl, but also to say that it did work. If she hadn't had it done vet said she would have been 50-60% lame always.

Good luck - keep us informed of what you decide to do.

Julia
x

 

[jules34]

Reading Claudy's post, my girl also had two swellings, one either side of her fetlock. Her Op including drugs, GA, care etc was £1,600. Her 2nd trip to hospital for cellulitis was £1,700.

 

[Doublethyme]

This was discussed with my mare when she damaged her annular ligament and SDFT last November. She has had a year out, lots of scans and lastly this August some shock wave therapy for the tendon.

We didn't go the desmotomy route on the annular ligament because very unusually and surprisingly apparently, my mare's annular ligament within six months had reduced considerably and is now back to normal! It was huge originally on the scans, over twice the normal size. My vet originally said it was highly unlikely to reduce (hence the desmotomy) as this ligament isn't very flexible like others and once thickened tends to stay that way.

Not quite sure what made the difference for her, but throughout her treatment I have been using a Bioscan Light Therapy Boot once or twice a day for 20 minutes and I still do and this visibly helps with windgalls etc.

We did have problems with the tendon not healing, however, after the shock wave therapy this is now showing huge improvement and I was given the go ahead to start trying to bring her back into work six weeks ago. We are now in the early stages and week 2 of ridden walk work, but (frantically touching wood) she is doing very well.

That was a year off on small isolated paddock rest virtually to the day - she's still on restricted turnout on her own and I am aware it can go pear shaped at any time, but she is certainly doing much better than the vet ever thought.

He even spoke of a proper de-nerving of the tendon at one point, along with the annular ligament surgery!

I would still however considering the annular ligament operation in the future if it gets aggrevated again, as I don't want the tendon being injured.

 

[emmah]

My horse had this op at 19 and made 100% recovery. She kept getting an recurring injury on her deep digital flexor tendon (i think thats what is was called!) and my vet suggested my cutting the anular ligament it would help prevent it from happening again. I wasnt insured for the surgery due to her age and all in with after care and follow up scans it cost just short of £3000 and that was 5 years ago now.

I am glad we had it done tho she came back into work within 2 weeks of the op as they have to keep moving to stop the ligament from reattaching. She was back competing in dressage within 6 months. She retired last year at 24 but not because of the leg because she had a bad heart

 

[saza911]

I have just bought a 12yr old hw coloured cob who had this operation in 2006 he has just gone lame and the vet is unsure why. He is extremely overweight (i bought him like this) and we are trying to lose it but is hard if he is lame.

He is 99% sound in walk so can do light walking/lunging but I am worried that it could be liked to this operation.

What would a horse have a annular ligament desmotomy??

 

[coolsprings]

My horse had this surgery and hasn’t recovered well yet due to some complications. I’m wondering if other horses that had this surgery had a floppy foot or laxity and if that got better and steady again? My horse drags his foot to back up too? Anyone have any experience to share? I’m wondering if he truly can get back to full performance? How can it be stable without this ligament? I appreciate any help or encouragement.