MRI on Hooves - A Better Understanding.

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Tia

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I have just been watching a documentary on the University of Guelph out here in Ontario.

Guelph are at present doing a study on horses using MRI to see what is going on inside the hoof of horses, the first of it's kind I believe. This could be the breakthrough horse owners are looking for in their quest for understanding how the hoof works and all the changes that can happen within the hoof.

A study is presently being performed and the results should be shown in about 4 months time. Hopefully it will answer a lot of questions.
 
Oh, how interesting!! I'd love to see that
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It was actually pretty cool seeing a cross-section of the hooves. I'm not exactly what it is they are looking for, perhaps just to glean a bit more information on the impact of the hoof and how it changes depending on different factors.

They have half the horses in the study lazing around a field for 4 months and the other half of the horses are worked 4 times a day with sensors on their feet and legs.

Let's hope that this is the step forward for a number of "not truly understood" diseases/conditions that many of us are awaiting.
 
Its interesting now that MRI is used more commonly to diagnose lower limb lamenesses that a lot of horses that block out on a nerve block into the navicular bursa do so because they have an injury to the insertion of the deep digital flexor tendon onto the navicular bone and not because of navicular disease itself. Prior to MRI horses that blocked out on a navicular block would be given a pretty poor prognosis whereas now if you can distinquish between horses with genuine navicular and DDF injury then the prognosis is certainly much better for those with DDF injuries. I wonder how many horses that are diagnosed with navicular that actually respond well to treatment or remedial shoeing actually had a DDF injury instead?
 
OOO that sounds interesting. I have a horse that has had changes in the navicular adn ligament damage but my vet even though he is great and did a lot of work on it, couldn't pinpoint the exact spot where the problem is.

It will be brilliant whent his type of technology is widely available, then problems like my horse had could be diagnosed sooner.
 
I thought people on here might be interested in the MRI scan results on my mare that was done a year ago, just to see what you can see on an MRI scan.

Sorry, these are links as I don't know how to post pictures, the usual way doesn't seem to work
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/southerntrades/mri1a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/southerntrades/mri2a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/southerntrades/mri3a.jpg

RIGHT FRONT FOOT

1. The compact bone of the flexor and articuiar surfaces of the navicular bone are mildly thickened

2. There are mild patchy areas of decreased signal (T1 weighting) in the medulla of the navicular bone

3. The distal and proximal borders of the navicular bone show mild modelling

4. There is moderate fluid distension of the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint

5. There is mild distension of the navicular bursa

6. The medial lobe of the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) has a focal area of high signal (T1 and T2* weighting) close to its dorsal surface at the level of the proximal interphalangeal joint

7. There is some mild periarticular modelling around the dorsal margin of the DIP joint

8. The collateral ligament of the navicular bone is swollen and shows irregular signal in both T1 and T2* weighted images

9. There is a mild high signal in the medulla of the navicular bone in STIR sequences

LEFT FRONT FOOT

1. There are mild patchy areas of decreased signal (T1 weighting) in the medulla of the navicular bone

2. The proximal border of the navicular bone shows mild modelling

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: The horse has a variety of both soft tissue and bony changes in the lame (right fore) foot. These include damage to the collateral ligament of the navicular bone and the DDFT, periarticular modelling around the margin of the DIP joint, and changes affecting the navicular bone.

It is difficult to know which of these changes is the most clinically significant. However, a combination of such changes is commonly seen in horses with persistent foot pain.

The horse will need a period of rest to permit healing of the damaged collateral ligament and DDFT. An initial period of 4 months is recommended, followed by reassessment. This should ideally be box rest, combined with restricted hand-walking exercise. It will be important to keep the feet well-balanced during this time, and advice should be sought from the vet and the horse's usual farrier as to the best shoeing protocol. If the horse is improved but not sound after 4 months of rest, then a further period of rest may be required. If there is no improvement after 4 months, then a repeat MRI examination may be warranted.

The horse has some evidence of mild osteoarthritis of the DIP joint. There is no obvious articular cartilage or subchondral bone damage, although it must be recognised that MRI is currently believed to be relatively insensitive at detecting mild articular cartilage damage. Treatment with chondroprotective feed additives would be appropriate. Other treatments such as intra-articular medications may be helpful, but we would not advise administering corticosteroids until such time as the soft tissues have healed.

There is some evidence of both acute and chronic damage to the navicular bone. This could represent an early and mild stage of navicular disease. There are also some mild changes affecting the navicular bone in the left fore. Management of these changes should include long-term farriery treatments. Additional medical treatments (such as isoxsuprine, tiludronate, NSAIDs, etc) may be necessary.
 
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