Thermal Imaging on Horses

[martincbree]

I am interested in hearing on anybodies understanding of Thermal Imaging of horses. Either their experiences, if any, or whether they think it is a good service, for ongoing maintenance, rather than just diagnosis.

 

[quirky]

Are you on about scintigraphy, or have I misunderstood?

If you are, I can't see anybody wanting to do it unless absolutely necessary. Why continuously expose your horse to radioactive substances??

 

[s4sugar]

Thermal imaging uses a camera and records temperature. No radioactivity.


A friend of mine does it - great for checking saddle fit and looking for causes of lameness.

 

[quirky]

Thermal imaging uses a camera and records temperature. No radioactivity.

I'll get back in the corner with my D hat on

 

[kerilli]

according to my vet, not so great, unless they are taken in a strictly temperature-controlled environment. ambient air temperature varies hugely and can have a significant effect.
i'd love to have a play around with a thermal camera though, love the look of the pics.

 

[AengusOg]

I think it could be very useful in diagnosing at least the site of problems in terms of lameness, perhaps prior to more expensive or invasive techniques.

Having said that, I mentioned it to a vet last year when one of the ponies at my work had a lameness which was proving difficult to diagnose. I'd seen the thermal imaging camera used on a rhino (on 'Animal Park', I think), and the vet was able to 'see' that there was heat in the hock. The vet I spoke to, however, seemed to think it would be an unnecessary expense for their particular practice. I thought that odd as they do a lot of horse and agricultural work.

I know if the service was available I would certainly use it as a first step in diagnosis.

 

[Darkly_Dreaming_Dex]

We had one done on Jacob- its best done when its cold so the ambient temperature doesnt affect the results. Ideally keep the horse in for a few hours without a rug and you need to have a totally dry horse. My vet and farrier were fascinated by the results, the cost (shared visit) was similar to a set of shoes so VERY reasonable. The RVC use it as a diagnostic tool aswell! It showed how his foot pointing had caused stress elsewhere and gave us the confidence to go ahead and pay for an MRI scan.

Because Jacob has been out of work for 2 years we only scanned his back to see how his rug puts pressure on the back:

He has had several infections in a near side molar tooth (that's cracked but noone wants to remove) so she checked for facial inflamation- EDT came a week later and confirmed he was infection free

can you see which foreleg is carrying most of the clydie weight?

Can you spot the "bad" foot? Jacob has been barefoot for 6 months at that point:

 

[Bojangles]

Thanks for putting your imageing on here. It's always nice to see the outcomes of this. What was the end result in your findings? I havnt follow you re this one.

 

[Darkly_Dreaming_Dex]

Thanks for putting your imageing on here. It's always nice to see the outcomes of this. What was the end result in your findings? I havnt follow you re this one.

Plenty of threads re Jacob if you do a search inc his MRI results/link to pictures He has coffin joint issues, tried every type of drug etc even IRAP and arthroscopy. No one is able to explain exactly why he is still lame despite workups at 3 different vet clinics and 2 hospitals.The result of the thermography made us realise that although Jacob was retired to happily pottering round the field, there could be problems in his near fore just through carrying the bulk of the weight eg DJD or stress laminitis. We opted for paying for an MRI ourselves. (well out of the 1 year for ins and a LONG way past £5k) This showed enlargement of the inner collateral ligament so we have rebalance his feet again.Thankfully everything else is ok in the foot The consensus of everyone is that barefoot isnt the miracle cure we were led to believe so we are going back to shoes that are designed for reducing stress on the collateral ligaments.

We have got to the point that he will either come sound or he wont. He is a very content field ornament and we are contemplating buying him a mare/foal so he can be a stepdad- he is fab with youngsters

 

[Bojangles]

Thanks for this will look up your threads later as it's always good to learn something new. I hope the field rest will work out for you both. Mine went on off lame 4 years ago wasnt hopping lame after restd still no difference so xrayd him and his got pedal osetits sp? wears eggbar shoe's now and has been fine now. Havnt had a problem since re this. Saying that his brewing up a abcess at the moment so no riding!!

 

[catembi]

I am having this done on Adrian on Friday, by a shiatsu lady. We've tried everything else, including scintigraphy, so it can't hurt. He quite likes touchy-feely treatments, so he might like a nice shiatsu massage.

 

[Faro]

I'm with DD Dex on this one. Agree that the conditions/ambient temperature etc. has to be got right, but I firmly believe that thermal imaging is a very useful diagnostic tool. I have recommended it to several of my clients, and should the need arise, I wouldn't hesitate to use it on my own horses.

Catembi, sorry, but have I totally misunderstood the context of your post?
Thermal imaging isn't shiatsu or a touchy feely treatment.