Have any of you ever had a scintigraphy scan on your horse?

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Rage is having one today....
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Have any of you ever used this as a diagnostic tool and what did it throw up?

My mind is running riot with me
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It was used on Trooper my old horse. They suspected he had fractured his femur and were unable to x-ray effectively as the bone was covered by too much muscle and tissue.

He had scintigraphy which showed a massive uptake of the nuclear dye. He was diagnosed with a fracture to the femur and spent months on box-rest before beginning a rehab programme to come back into full work.

He came sound and competed for another 3 years before her was retired due to a totally unrelated condition.

the worst thing was not being able to cuddle him as he was radioactive!!!!

Good luck I hope it is a positive outcome.
 
Andy had one about 3yrs ago when it was thought he had damaged his sacroliliac (sp).. fortunately the scan did not show any 'hot spots' (his entire back and hind legs were scanned) and his sacroiliac ligaments were all even.. turns out the problem was in his feet all along.!!

good luck with your ned..
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Thanks both, I think the thing I am worried about most is that it will find a whole number of issues that might have been a case of 'ignorance is bliss'... I don't want him to be a write off!
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He is having his back and both hinds scanned, in an attempt to identify where his lameness (not even a grade 1, so unable to nerve block) is coming from.
 
Boo had one and all it showed up were hot spots in the hocks and his pedal bone rotation. He had cartrophen injections for his hocks and corrective shoeing for the feet. I must say though, it has put my mind at rest knowing he is structurely sound now
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Best of luck to you with yours
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Thanks Wizoz, did you back the scan up with x-rays of the problem areas, or just go on the scan results alone?
Nice to see that Boo is back up and running though, I had no idea that he had had physical problems!
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my old pony suddenly stoped performing, and stoped moving almost all together, very reluctant to role etc.
had bone scans on all of her, and threw up a major sacroilliac disorder, from which she was retired.
best of luck with your boy, it is a worrying time, and i was like you- not really wanting to know what the results were- but we have to face up to the responsibility of horse ownership and do our bestest!!! fingers crossed for you
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I hope this doesn't worry you even more!

My 14.2 had one to try and diagnose a niggling lameness. It showed hot spots in the feet (deemed insignificant) and a hot spot on his left shoulder which was diagnosed as bicipital bursitits. He had 6 months turned away and came completely sound.

My mum's pony had one to diagnose lameness both in front and behind. He had hot spots on his hocks and coffin joint. The hocks were xrayed and showed he has spavins. A year later his hocks are fine (have been injected twice now) but he goes lame infront every time we bring him back into work because the vets have failed to diagnose him.

My own horse had a bone scan because he suddenly lost the ability to trot or canter either ridden or in the field. His bone scan showed hot spots in his poll, cervical and thoracic vertebrae, sacro-iliac region and hind feet. Xrays showed minor boney growths on his cervical vertevrae and his thoracic vertebrae are closer together than desirable but not impinging. He had an old sacro-iliac strain, rotated hind pedal bones and muscle spasms everywhere
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He had lots of physio and spent months at a rehab yard but I was unable to keep the specialist work up and turned him away for 6 months. I'm currently in the process of bringing him back into work and so far so good.
 
Thanks everyone.

Spoke to the vet that did the scan and this was the jist....
His hocks are fine, but he seems to have a subchondral bone cysts in the region of his right stifle. Vet thinks this is unlikely to have any bearing on his lameness as it is something that will have been peesent since he was around 3 years old.
His back.... his sacro-iliac joint is well out of alignment, and he had significant hotspot in his thoracic AND lumbar spine - his vertebrae aren't alinged as they should be, but the vet was reluctant to be pinned down and utter the words 'kissing spines' until he has been x-rayed.

Will know more when my vet has seen the images and he will go through it all with me. X-rays will be booked tomorrow.
 
Good luck with the x rays, I have just been going through this with my horse, he has had xrays, a gamma scan and finally nerve block in his back which have together confirmed kissing spines.

Our other horse has had two gamma scans in the last couple of years, first one indicated a spavin though not definitively, second one didn't find any reason for his continuing lameness. At least in your case the results have pointed the way for further examinations & hopefully treatments.
 
We had one on a horse that was difficult to ride and they said he had a bad back and we had a treatment under general then about 6 treatments sedated. He then came back into work and the problem started again, a dealer Part exchanged him and turned him out to rest.A month later he died , it was then found out that he had liver problems.
They knew the area that was a problem but didn't diagnose properly
 
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