Lung scope and trach wash. Anyone's horse had one?

[Fruitcake]

Just after a bit of reassurance really. Horse has had niggling breathing issues for a few months so vet thinks it's a good idea to do a scope and see what's going on.

I'm just a bit concerned by the trach wash bit. Apparently, they squirt fluid into the lungs, draw it back out and send it to the lab to culture to check for bacteria. The bit that worries me is that vet said they only manage to draw half of it back out and the rest is left there. Vet says it's totally safe and I do trust her but a friend's child had a similar procedure and, apparently, it triggered an infection.

I am a worrier by nature. Just wondered what others' experiences were.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ihatework]

I had one done on a horse about 5 years ago, it was fine, all pretty routine stuff really

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Done regularly in racing yards with no problems. Don't panic! They only put 20ml of fluid in max! It's not like they put a bucket load in.

 

[Fruitcake]

Done regularly in racing yards with no problems. Don't panic! They only put 20ml of fluid in max! It's not like they put a bucket load in.

Vet said it was 300ml. When I clearly looked panic stricken, she said it was nothing as their lung capacity is 10 litres or something. Still seems like a lot to me though!

 

[catroo]

It's a tiny amount of liquid in comparison to horses lungs, you can't really compare to a similar procedure in a human child.

It is routine so try not to worry

 

[Greylegs]

My lad had a tracheal wash after suffering from a stubborn cough for weeks. It did look a bit alarming, but he was fine and actually improved significantly afterwards. The test results showed the cough was due to a severe allergic reaction, and the action of doing the wash seemed to really help!!! I suggested to my vet that they should offer it as a treatment rather than a diagnostic. But either way, he was fine, the procedure helped his recovery and he's been cough free ever since.

 

[GoldenWillow]

Don't worry, my mare had quite a few scopes and trach washes and they never caused any problems. She also had two BAL's, there seemed to be a lot more liquid used in that and they go deeper and she was fine with those as well. It does mean that you should get some answers to your horses problems.

 

[Fruitcake]

Don't worry, my mare had quite a few scopes and trach washes and they never caused any problems. She also had two BAL's, there seemed to be a lot more liquid used in that and they go deeper and she was fine with those as well. It does mean that you should get some answers to your horses problems.

Thanks. Now you've mentioned a BAL, I actually think that's what vet said they're doing. That'd make sense why she mentioned using so much fluid.

 

[irishdraft]

My horse had this done a couple of years ago apart from having a problem getting the scope down because the poor thing was coughing so much , he was absolutely fine and did give me peace of mind about what was going on with him

 

[poiuytrewq]

As EKW said it's done regularly on racing yards and I've never known there be any issue at all.
Don't panic! It's very routine and will hopefully give you some answers x

 

[rara007]

Don't worry, it's very routine

 

[Fruitcake]

Thanks everyone.

Will try to stay calm!

 

[Sandstone1]

Sorry to bring up this old thread but my vet has mentioned doing this to my horse. Hes had a cough and had ventipulmin and improved. He finished this and cough has returned but not as bad as before. He was in over night but has been out 24/7 for a few days. No temp and well in himself. I am quite worried about having this done. What exactly does it involve?

 

[Fruitcake]

Sorry to bring up this old thread but my vet has mentioned doing this to my horse. Hes had a cough and had ventipulmin and improved. He finished this and cough has returned but not as bad as before. He was in over night but has been out 24/7 for a few days. No temp and well in himself. I am quite worried about having this done. What exactly does it involve?

I did end up having it done. It was fine. They sedated him and passed a tube and camera down into his teachea / lungs. You could actually see the mucous which seemed to be causing the problem. They squirted fluid in to collect mucous for samples and sent it off for cultures.

It turned out there was no infection - just lots of inflammation that was only being calmed by bronchodilators like Ventipulmin and Ventolin and not affected enough by inhaled steroids. He had a long course of nebulised steroids to get on top of the inflammation and hasn't looked back.

 

[Sandstone1]

I did end up having it done. It was fine. They sedated him and passed a tube and camera down into his teachea / lungs. You could actually see the mucous which seemed to be causing the problem. They squirted fluid in to collect mucous for samples and sent it off for cultures.

It turned out there was no infection - just lots of inflammation that was only being calmed by bronchodilators like Ventipulmin and Ventolin and not affected enough by inhaled steroids. He had a long course of nebulised steroids to get on top of the inflammation and hasn't looked back.

Thank you, I have said I will give it a week to see if cough goes now hes out 24/7 and if not wil have it done. Im not normally a wimp but just do not like the thought of putting him through it!

 

[Fransurrey]

There are videos online if you would like to watch one. I studied a few as part of my research into equine asthma (I developed the equine nasal brush model). Search for bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) or tracheal wash. They essentially do the same thing, but tracheal wash is normally direct into the trachea (via a cannula).

What they're looking for is greater than normal range numbers of immune cells that is removed by the wash. Raised numbers of certain cells will determine whether there is infection or inflammation present (which may be due to infection, or allergic reaction). A really good BALF (BAL fluid) sample will remove any bacteria present, but absence of bacteria doesn't actually mean absence of infection, just reduced likelihood (the lavage is an inherently variable procedure in terms of effectiveness!).

Tracheal wash:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1155399991140208

BAL:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=147863293679086

 

[doodle]

My horse had a couple. First to diagnose the issue and second to see how it was working. It wasn't stressful for him, he was lightly sedated. It was interesting to watch and it gave us answers to treat him.

 

[stormox]

Yes I had one done. Absolutely no after effects though she did cough quite a lot while it was being done.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

You are right to ask questions.

Had mine scoped as vet suspected ulcers.

My little mare fights sedation VERY violently; she had to have enough in her to wipe out an elephant, and still she fought it. This was really hard for me to watch and made the whole thing soh much more a traumatic procedure for her as well.

Would I have another scope done on her? Nope I wouldn't. Even for dental work I'd use an EDT now.

That said, if you have a horse who WILL respond well to sedation, it might not be nearly as bad.