Nose bleeding & Ethmoid Hematoma's??

[LucyR123]

My horse zak has had a nosebleed from one nostril for the past 3 weeks (just a trickle), I had the vet out and gave him antibiotics and bute for a week as the vet thought it could be a bacterial infection, this has not worked so called the vet out again on weds 20th Jan and gave zak an endoscopy. The vet couldn’t see anything, just a lot of blood, the vet has ruled out a guttural pouch infection as these were all clear, but think it could be an ethmoid hematoma. Zak has now got to go for X-rays on his head and if it is what they think it is he will have to have a operation. Has anyone else come across an ethmoid hematoma? Does anyone know if they can come back once removed?? Any help on this would be appreciated!! Thank you. Lucy x

 

[liveryblues]

Hi Lucy, A very good friend of mine had this with her horse. He had nose bleeds on & off for years, was misdiagnosed by 3 vets( no one thought to xray) When another vet sugested an xray he was found to have an ethmoid hematoma the size of a melon up above & behind his nasal passage( apparently there is alot of space there!) The vet said it would have taken years to form & at the grand age of 18 he was operated on by( very fortunately for them) a leading expert who happend to be in the country.
It was successfuly removed, he now has abit of a dent in his head as they removed a piece of bone about 3cm square. usually if they are going to reoccur its within the first year to 18 months, she had the vet out to endoscope every six months but 3 years on there has been no return. Vet has told to relax now but she does panic every time he gets a nose bleed! Again vet has said if it is cherry red fresh blood then she should not worry. If its brown looks oldish, gunky, etc he wants to know about it. I hope this helps
edited to add that they can come back but vet said if it did it would take years to form again & at his age he would be dead before it could cause any probs.

 

[memeikle]

My horse is going through exactly the same at the moment. he had antibiotics and bute for a week, stopped bleeding then as soon as the drugs finished, it came back. He's on antibiotics again and due to finish on Monday when we'll have to wait and see. Am madly crossing my fingers that it's been an infection and will be sorted, next stage is x rays. When he had his endoscopy there was blood and pus coming from his sinus so vet thinks sinus infection is a good bet and he just didn't give him enough antibiotics first time.

Is it just me or does your vet seem a bit stumped too? To tell you the truth, I feel like we're kind of treating in the hope it will work without REALLY knowing what's wrong!

 

[LucyR123]

Thank you for your replies, When the vet endoscoped him loads and loads of blood came out and it was starting to clot, (like string is the only way I can describe it!!). his nose has bled constantly for a month but the next day after the endoscope it suddenly stopped bleeding!! Touch wood its still not bleeding!! The vet couldn’t see anything up his nose so booked him in for xrays on 18th Feb, if there is anything there he will have to go to Liverpool for an operation. The vet asked if I was insured as she said it could cost between £2,000 - £4,000!!! Thank god im insured!! It seems really strange that after 4 weeks of bleeding it has suddenly stopped the day after the camera! I’m hoping it was some kind of blood blister of some kind that the camera might of popped when it went up!! Have your horses had any other symptom to go with the nosebleed?? Mine has had nothing else.