Outcomes please, infected joint ops.

[henryhorn]

One of our mares has just had two ops at an equine clinic and they are hoping that will remove the infection, she is also on a-b.
They have suggested a third op if necessary but we feel it's too much, but would appreciate any replies from anyone who's horse has had a similar problem.
The injury is on the inside of her hock and pierced the sac leaking fuid (this only happened several days later).
Your thoughts appreciated.

 

[daphnebs]

Sorry to hear aboet your mare's recurrent infections. I would try laser treatment on the hock. This will stimulate the healing process from the inside out and also fight the infection. I had two horses with related injuries, both were leaking synovial fluid and had bad infections with that. Our vet suggested operating too and to do this special joint flush. Apart from the cost of the operation he said there was no guarantee it would work and also would probably require more of them as in your case. I am lucky to have my own laser machine and was able to use it every day, but if you can get 3 sessions the first two weeks and reduce that two 2 sessions per week after that for another 2/3 weeks you will probably see a dramatic improvement. My horses took 4-6 weeks to heal from the initial injury. As your horse has had operations etc. alseady it will take slighty longer but after the first 2 weeks you should see a big difference already. I have used my laser on all sorts of injuries such as broken pedal bones, splints, absolutely horrific lacerations, tendons, bad infections and lots more, I absolutely swear by it and would highly recommend it to you. Your vet should be able to put you in touch with some one who does laser therapy, if not the equine hospital you use should definitely know of someone.

Goodluck, hope it all works out for you

 

[JenHunt]

not in horses, but if it's any help at all i got an infection in my knee joint following a ligament repair operation. and had 2 further operations to flush the joint out.

the only lasting effects at the moment (12 years on) is that the joint is slightly swollen compared to the other knee, and it makes funny noises. specialist says this could lead to arthritis in the future, but it causes no discomfort now!

 

[loopylucifer]

mine had this 7 years ago she has in infection in her hock punture on outside. she was operated (under GA) and joint flushed out anti-bs were put into joint she was then on iv antis for 7 days then oral for a further 10 days (?). she was on box rest for about 3 months being able to walk out after one month she had alos torn the colateral ligimaent of the hock. since this she has had no problems with this leg just all the others!!
have known several others with simmilar type injuarys although not in joint but tendon and several of these had them flushed out several time but all under standing sedation.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

My riding buddy's TB had a hock injury similar to loopylucifer above, kick to the joint and the joint leaking synovial fluid. Same treatment: GA, flush, abx, box rest, field rest, copper sulphate to burn away the proud flesh that started to appear. He was perfectly sound and rideable after about 10 weeks. BUT - he was discovered only about 2 hours max after the injury happened. The vets did warn that it might have been a very different outcome if it had gone unnoticed for 24 hrs. Good luck with your mare hh x

 

[Happy Horse]

I'll be honest, I worked in an Equine theatre for several years and so saw lots of infected joints being flushed. Results were less and less satisfactory the more surgeries that were required. The chances of arthritic changes occurring in the joint increases the longer the infection is established. I would say after three surgeries, if they are successful the chances of a return to full competitive work would be guarded. I'd not recommend going down the laser route if there is still infection in the joint.

If she were my horse and a valuable broodmare or a top competition horse then I'd probably consider a third op. If not then it would definitely come down to the cost of the surgery for me I'm afraid.

 

[druid]

My yearling had his hock flushed last winter - he had a puncture wound to the anterior aspect of his right hock. He had a surgical flush under GA and came back fully sound within a month.

A foal at work at about 5 weeks had a systemic infection which ended in 5 infected joints which we surgically flushed 3x over a period of a week. He came back 100% but he did have huge amounts of money/time thrown at him due to his worth. He also had youth on his side

 

[Worried1]

Do you rememeber my Matinee du Madon mare, Maddie? She had three ops to flush an infected fetlock joint as a yearling and came through absolutely fine.

She needed a bit of TLC as she was a bit down after 3 GA's but she bounced back no problem, they are often tougher than we think.

She had a lovely foal by Balouet this year so there is hope.

Fingers crossed for you all.

x

 

[ali1bar]

i have a mare, that this time last year, had to have a joint flush for in injury to her hock, she has to have it flushed twice, then was on box rest for 3 weeks then out for half an hour and gradually extend it till she was out normal hours.
she had from october till may be late feb off work, and is now better than she has ever been, i do use magnetic boots on her hocks etc but as far as the joint flush goes it was a success...
But unfortunately, we had a horse on the yard recently that was not so lucky, he had an injury to his fetlock, and the joint flush was successful, but he never came out of the anesthetic.. so joint flush could have been great for him too.

 

[Tnavas]

My yearling was kicked in the hock and the joint was penetrated. Infection set in and the vets operated to clean the joint. She went on to various antibiotics and was amazingly brave - three legged canter around th epaddock!

Sadly though each time the antibiotics were finished the joint swelled up again and the infection came back. After about three months of battling the infection we decided that it was best that she be PTS - septic arthritis weakened the joint and she ran the risk of fracturing it under stress.

It was heartbreaking - the very first foal I'd bred myself.

I so hope your mares treatment is more successful.

 

[ImogenBurrows]

One of our mares has just had two ops at an equine clinic and they are hoping that will remove the infection, she is also on a-b.
They have suggested a third op if necessary but we feel it's too much, but would appreciate any replies from anyone who's horse has had a similar problem.
The injury is on the inside of her hock and pierced the sac leaking fuid (this only happened several days later).
Your thoughts appreciated.

I assume your horse has also been on hefty intravenous ABs. This is very sad.
The only additional technique that I can think of off the top of my head is the use of intravenous regional antibiotic perfusions. This is when a tourniquet is applied above the hock, the very concentrated antibiotic is infused into a vein near the hock and held in that area by the tourniquet. this allows very high concentrations of antibiotic to filter into the joint and surrounding tissues and I have used it with some success in similar cases.

Good luck, I'm afraid the prognosis is pretty poor though

Imogen