Rupture of superficial flexor tendon sheath - success stories?

[Curly_Feather]

Hi everyone!

My friend's tb slipped in the horsebox 3 months ago, it was clear he was pretty badly hurt (totally non-weight bearing), and was taken to the clinic immediately. After examination and a scan, this is the diagnosis:

Left hind: Rupture of the lateral sheath of the superficial flexor tendon over the sustentaculum tali.

The initial treatment was to leave him on stall rest, with a rescan in 3 months, with a possible surgical option down the line. The second scan was yesterday, but the vets are not keen on the surgery (not sure of the exact reason, I wasn't there), and they want him to rest for another 3 months before rescanning.

This is apparently a pretty rare injury, our vets don't have much experience with it, and they are experienced sport-horse vets in a high-density sporting horse area. They are consulting with other vets, of course.

The point of this post is mostly to encourage my very glum friend with any similar stories that you guys might have to share... Please share!

 

[Curly_Feather]

Bump.

 

[tallyho!]

As this injury is so high up, I'm not sure if my experience will help. A horse in my care ruptured the same tendon but further down and was taken immediately to an equine hospital for PRP (heres a generic link for your info - http://www.roodandriddle.com/news/r...tanding-irap-prp-and-stem-cell-therapies.html) and this seemed to work and she was back in work after 6 months of controlled exercise.

Personally, I'd want a referral asap, however, depending on the severity, perhaps rest IS all that is needed... I would wait and see what the vets come back with. The location is quite a critical one as the tendon will be under a lot of stress as its right on the "fulcrum" so to speak... I wish your friend and her horse all the best. Sorry I wasn't much help.

 

[Curly_Feather]

Thanks for your reply tallyho. Her vet has consulted with vets from other practices on this specific injury, as well as vets in Britain. It just seems that all the advice is wait and see. I'm not questioning the advice, per se, more just hoping that a few people have experienced it and that the outcome was good.

In the meantime, I will drink a lot of margaritas with her while she waits