myelogram-anyone had this done?

[Delta99]

Have been told it would be good for my horse to have this done as there as 3 potential sites in the neck where the problem could be but it sounds pretty awful.
Any experience and advice on after care anyone could give me?

 

[tiggs]

I have had one done on my dog to show up disc problems on her neck. I don't think the myelogram causes any problem by itself, it is just like dye to highlight the area on the xrays better. My dog had similar symptoms to wobblers,and her back legs had collapsed. She had the protruding discs shaved and has made a full recovery. Sorry I don't know about the effect on horses but hope your horse makes a full recovery.

 

[Rockchick_uk]

My best friend had one done last year to her 3 year old Welsh D who had catagory 5 wobblers.

He recovered fine and went on to have a secondary operation to have titanium baskets fitted to his spine, he is now just coming back in to work!

So what would you like to know exactly?

 

[Annie&Amy]

I'm a veterinary nurse and we do them on dogs but tend to use MRI's more now unless it's a emergency. The common side effect in dogs is fitting when they come round from the GA but this can be prevented by keeping them at a angle as much as poss during the procedure to prevent the dye getting to the brain. I honestly don't know if fitting is a potential side effect with horses. It's only temporary with dogs xxxx

 

[Portia QT]

My mare had this done about 5 years ago when she was diagnosed with wobblers.
I was told that some horses do have a seizure when they are coming round but mine didn't. Apart from that its just the same as just having a GA so once they have come back round they are fine and there isn't any after care that you need to do because of the mylegram. My mare came home the next day.

 

[Birker2020]

I was faced with the possibility of having this done with my ten year old late onset wobblers and didn't really want it unless it was a last resort due to the one in a hundred horses that don't survive a GA. In the end it didn't materialise anyway and he was diagnosed with very bad untreatable wobblers following Xrays at Liverpool where he was immediately PTS. Has your horse had comprehensive xrays? My vets at the time xrayed my horse using a portable xray machine that they brought to the yard and it couldn't pick up the damage to the neck bones as it was not powerful enough to penetrate the neck muscles. I was told he was ok when clearly he wasn't. Has your horse been referred for xrays at a hospital? This woudl be preferable to something as invasive as a myelogram.