Is degree of suspensory damage related to visibility on a scan?

[angela_l_b]

My horse was diagnosed with hind leg PSD at the beginning of the year - he never seemed lame to me on the leg in question and the desmitis did not show up on the ultrasound scans. The vet said that when they got him on a tight hard circle they could see the lameness (I wasn't present at this examination, but at home when lunging on the hard I couldn't see anything wrong with that leg). The vets isolated the area using nerve blocks and seem certain that this must be the problem.

Since then he has been on box rest with walking, which will go up to include trotting next weekend. Apart from the usual box rest issues and a rather excited pony on the end of a rope when walking, we have followed instructions and all seems to be ok.

So my question is - is the degree of damage related to how bad the injury appears, either in the scan or the degree of lameness? What I am hoping to be told is that because the damage can't be detected by the scan and that the lameness is very slight, the amount of damage isn't very bad. Or is this not always the case? Does anyone know?

Thank you!

 

[emmiec12]

i believe the lameness does not always show the state of the injury - although i think it must have something to do with it, even if that is just wishful thinking!!

My boy was not even lame on a tight circle with a check strain... it was simply the swelling that allerted me to the prob. he was not sore to touch or anything.

however, all this said i always followed the vets instruction to the letter as it better to be safe than sorry.

good luck xx

 

[Marchtime]

From what I understand from when my boy had PSD most horses don't actually go lame, but instead adopt a rather odd way of going or become less forward and less willing to behave. My horse was diagnosed after his behaviour rapidly detoriated. When nerve blocked the difference was amazing and yet he was never truly lame. So I'm afraid I don't think with PSD the level of lameness necessarily reflects the extent of the damage as lameness isn't always present. However, on a more positive note if it wasn't visible on a scan I would imagine the damage would be minimal.

 

[Imonone]

My mare wasnt lame at all but her behaviour deteriorated when schooling. The back was treated for a while and when no improvement occurred the hindlimbs were investigated.

On scan you could see some slight differences in the fibre patterns but no holes or anything else.

Shes not yet back in work but I wonder how easy it will be to assess her improvement and assume that she will need to be rescanned. Poses the question of how will you know yours has recovered if there was nothing ot see on scan in the 1st place

 

[angela_l_b]

That's exactly what I ws thinknig - how can we possibly know if they are better when the damage is hardly or not at all visible, and on an even more gloomy note, assuming they come back into work then how will we ever know if they ever re-injure them?

Interesting about the behavioural differences leading to the diagnosis rather than any lameness. I assumed most horses with PSD would be visibly lame. Mine has for a while been unwilling to strike off on the left in canter, which I now realise was probably related to the problem in the right hind - otherwise I didn't notice anything. I only called the vet as he seemed off in front (another potential and as-yet undiagnosed problem we have temporarily put aside until the hind leg is sorted!).

Fingers crossed for everyone with the same problem. xx