Guttural pouch mycosis ... Treatment?? Recovery?? Prognosis??

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Peter Y

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I'm urgently seeking information from all about their experiences of equine guttural pouch mycosis. My 13 yr old ISH, The Dude, 17.2h is currently recovering following a successful op to insert a balloon tipped catheter into his right carotid artery to deal with this highly dangerous condition. I'm keen to hear from anyone who has experience of dealing with this condition. for those unfamiliar with it, follow this link.

http://www.irishvetjournal.org/content/66/1/13

i'm particularly keen to hear about successful outcomes, including experience of recovery planning, timescale, and vet/owner discussions.
 
Last edited:
alsxx said:
Yep my horse had it last year, happy to answer any questions. Mine made a full recovery following the same surgery.
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Hi

Thanks for reply. I'm keen to get your experience of how your horse was post op? Did it suffer effects of dysphagia? Weight loss? What recovery plan and timescale for that did you follow?

Thanks

Peter
 
My Arab had this some years back, one pouch was full of chondroids (small hard lumps of pus) they tried flushing his out but it wouldnt work they were not moving, so the vet had to order a special tool for the scope to pull them out one at a time, this took weeks, I used to take him to the vet for two days a week so they could remove them, they were only happy removing about 20 per day and thought it was only fair to do it once or twice a week hence why it took so long, he had over 100 of them in his pouch, vet said it was one of the worst cases he had seen.

Once they were removed we had antibiotics for a few weeks then he went back to have it scoped and flushed again, then I had to go back six months later to have him scoped again, he lost a little bit of weight during this time but did not seem really ill, A few years after this I noticed his nose being green again I thought it had returned, so I took him straight to the vets they scoped him and thank god he was clear, turns out he had a virus and it cleared up in a month.

Someone I know has a horse that has just been diagnosed with this, they did initially think the horse had a stroke, he couldnt walk in a straight line or eat, after a ct scan they found the mass in the guttural pouch, turns out it had affected his balance and as it had gone un noticed for some time he may have nerve damage as a result.

I wish you luck with your horse, if you want to know anything else please let me know.
 
Peter Y said:
Hi

Thanks for reply. I'm keen to get your experience of how your horse was post op? Did it suffer effects of dysphagia? Weight loss? What recovery plan and timescale for that did you follow?

Thanks

Peter
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Fortunately, my horse was very very lucky - he was actually found badly haemorrhaging and had lost significant amounts of blood; had I not found him when I did I'm told he would have been dead. He sailed through the op the next day, and surprised the team by how quickly he was up on his feet post op.

He was at the vets two weeks in total; following surgery he had daily scopes and flushes with anti-fungals direct on to the remaining fungal plaque until he was discharged. I think my boy was fairly unique in that the fungal plaque had eaten through the wall separating the two pouches and was therefore present in both pouches (although the bleed occurred from the right branch of the carotid artery) - at 6 months post op the scope showed that the plaque was entirely gone but he is now left with a hole between the pouches!

Although he looked pretty awful post op, he recovered well and gradually put on weight; he was allowed to start gentle work a month after surgery and was built up gradually from there. He has nerve damage to the right side of his face - his eye looks permanently sleepy (you only really notice if you look at him from head on, although I notice it all the time!) and the circulation changes have meant that he sweats more on the right side of his face, so I have to be careful to keep him clean or the skin/coat gets quite manky and sore. Fortunately, he had no signs of dysphagia at all. With regards the nerve damage, I have seen no improvement sadly (it will be a year at the end of march) and the vets are unsure as to whether the nerves will actually repair enough to allow the eye to open fully, but it doesn't cause any trouble - he can see perfectly ok, it's just the eye-lids.

Following his release from hospital, we did 6 weeks of weekly flushes with anti-fungals, and then went to 3 weekly for a couple of months, and then he was checked again at 6 months - we will check again in September. The vets were quite honest with me in that the post-operative management was a bit of an experiment since most horses don't make it that far.

We have no idea how long my horse had the plaque growing in there; he had had a history of choke however, not hugely regular but maybe a couple of times a year. Since the op/treatment he hasn't choked at all - I'm not sure if that is simply coincidence, or that the plaque was there for some time causing issues.

Which hospital is your horse at?
 
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