OCD - ultrasound diagnosis or MRI ??

maginn

maginn

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I had my mare's hocks x-rayed in Sept, as she had a swollen hock. She was also sore in her back which by chriropractor thinks was coming from the hock.

She was not lame but became slightly lame with a flexion test. The vet suspected OCD but they couldn't find anything wrong with her, so with their recommendation I turned her away in the hope that it was maybe just a strain (she had fallen in the field some weeks before when tazzing about and had been slightly lame for 2 days then she seemed fine).

However I have noticed that the hock joint seems to be swelling whenever the joint is flexed, as she has mud fever on that leg as well (aaahhh) she is waving at me when I am trying to treat it and I noticed that the joint noticably swells immediately afterwards, she is not lame though.

I keep thinking it must be OCD but my vets (well respected horse vets) said as there was nothing showing on xray they wanted to "give her the benefit of the doubt". This is all well and good but my thoughts are if there is a problem it would be best to treat it early. I noticed in H&H this week that they are advocating ultrasound for diagnosis of OCD but they only mention in the stifles, can they use for Hocks as well ? If there is only a cartlidge problem, rather than bone chips this will prob not show up on x -ray so I wonder if it would be worth having an ultrasound done, or would I need to have MRI ? Or something else...? My insurance will only cover 1/2 the cost of an MRI scan so want to avoid this if possible as likely to cost the earth I should imagine.

Have any of you had a diagnisis by means others than Xray.
I wonder if I might be better to send her for a full evaluation at newmarket, or am I being over the top ?

She is such a lovely horse I want to do the absolute best for her.
 
Sorry to hear about your mare! (is she the bay in the sig? She looks amazing!).

Not much I can offer in terms of advice other than to say that when T had OCD in both stiffles he appeared sound (even after flexion) and nothing showed up in the x-rays. Ortho vet said that the damage to his cartiledge was amongst the top 15% of cases he had ever seen but only became apparent at the arthroscopy.

What happens when they nerve blocked your mare's hock?
 
Yes thanks - you were prob looking at the 1st picky that is her Dad - she is the middle one (as a yearling)..but also amazing IMO.

They haven't nerve blocked, don't understand why they would if she isn't lame ? Unless you mean nerve block then do a flexion test ? Even then very mild so don't think would tell you a great deal. She has only had a brief examination, flexion test & xrays up to now
 
I'm not a vet so can't really advise, all I can say is that T was sound (on a surface, on the hard, on the lunge even lungeing on concrete) and his lameness did not show until the nerve block because he was severely, billaterally lame (3/5ths and 4/5ths). Before you think that this must have been a crippled horse, he had just been out and qualified Novice and three vets were standing there going 'he's sound' until we nerve blocked him.

However, this may not be in any way useful in your mare's case.
 
Sorry had not thought of it that way, what did they do nerve block one leg so that the other then showed up the lameness and vice versa ? Did your horse have similar issue i.e joint swelling but no other symptoms ? Did you go to a specialist ortho vet ?

This is the first time I have come across OCD (potentially anyway..) so I am keen to find out all I can.

Did your horse recover ok ?
 
I typed a reply to you last night but I don't know where its gone!!!??

My filly had just xrays to diagnose OCD in her stifles and I believe this is the usual case... after arthroscopy she went back for follow up xrays and although the site of the op was clear theere were other abnormalities showing up so they decided to investigate further (at their cost!) with ultrasound scans... this showed up the equine equivalent of Osgood schlatters (Sp) disease (a very rare condition - only one other recorded case) so yes, in other words if you do think it could be something non-boney it is worth investigating with scans...

...on the other hand my mare was diagnosed with bone spavin, despite there being very minimal changes in the hock...
 
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