Throat laser?

carthorse

carthorse

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Has anyone had this. Penfold had a galloping endoscope last week and they recommend the laser is tried first and if not successful then maybe tie back . Anyone had the laser
 
a friend had her horse lasered as opposed to the standard op for a hobday and recovery time is much reduced. hope all goes well. do some research and question the vets and surgeons re risks and recovery times etc and try to make an educated choice.
 
Mine had a laser hobday with a tieback. My friend has just had hers done with the hole in the throat hobday with a tieback an it was a horrendous hole, four inches long, which is still not closed up three weeks later and spraying gunge everywhere.

I understand that the laser hobday is not as effective at reducing noise, and mine still makes a noise but it doesn't bother me or him.

If I had had the option (but my horse's breathing was so bad I didn't) then I would have gone for a laser hobday alone first and seen how much difference it made.

I am puzzled why your horse's breathing has been judged not to affect him enough for a tieback but they still want to do a hobday - is that just to quiet the noise or does he have performance issues that they think will be improved just by a hobday??
 
My mare has just had laser hobday and tie back op. It was done a week ago and she is doing really well.

I took her to Rossdales at Newmarket last winter as she was making a lot of noise but was still managing to event, the surgeon said he could do the laser hobday to help the noise but seeing as it was degenerative problem she would probably need the tie back at some point in the future. I personally couldn't see the point of putting her through two procedures and two lots of box rest so I left it. Sure enough it got worse and so last week she went to Rossdales to have both done.
 
Interested in hearing about the laser aswell, Is laser an option only for horses who make a slight noise? Do more serious cases have to go under the knife so to speak?
Horse will be scoped soon but I am dreading the healing time if he has to have the tieback and hobday op as he is not the best patient!
 
sam1am said:
Interested in hearing about the laser aswell, Is laser an option only for horses who make a slight noise? Do more serious cases have to go under the knife so to speak?
Horse will be scoped soon but I am dreading the healing time if he has to have the tieback and hobday op as he is not the best patient!
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I think the laser hobday is done in less serious cases where there is a noise but performance is still ok, but then you could have the laser hobday done and then need a tie back a few months later if the problems worsens. My mare just had laser hobday and tie back. She has a very neat wound with several staples in. She is on 5weeks box rest then turnout and gentle exercise for a following two months before coming back into full work.
 
You can do both hobday and tie-back via laser at the same time - I have seen both laser and surgical (both times the two procedures were done together) and there shoould be no difference in the eventual outcome. I think if i had a horse that needed either procedure then I would probably opt for laser - purely because it can be done under standing sedation as opposed to GA, and there are no wounds to get infected afterwards!

Has your vet suggested just doing a laser hobday (which will reduce noise) and then surgical tie-back if needed for exercise intolerance?
 
illy89 your vet is TERRRIBBBBLY cautious. My horse had two weeks box rest, led out in hand. Two weeks small pen. Two weeks restricted paddock area and then got turned out full time and was straight into work. He was fit because my turnout is hilly and went straight into trot and was cantering within two weeks and hunted after six weeks. It's only a small wound with a stich tied around the vocal cords, why is he telling you two months gentle exercise.
 
Apparently he has flaps! which get in the way and displaces his soft palate and when he gets tired he has partial paralysis. Main problem is he is having nosebleeds when really pushed. Worried he will be lasered to tighten his tongue and then have to have further work. Really don't understand it all so any advice is great
 
I'd go ahead with the laser hobday because there shouldn't be a long recovery time. The flaps are burnt off under sedation and as soon as the sore throat heals he can work. He should be home the same day. If he doesn't have enough laryngeal paralysis to justify the tieback yet, you could save yourself a lot of time and fuss, and there is nothing to stop the tieback later. Watch out for your insurance, though, if you have any. You won't be covered for the tieback at a later date because by then it will be a "pre-existing condition". If you don't have insurance then I would definitely try the hobday first, purely because you will save a couple of grand if it works, and hardly end up spending any more in total if it doesn't.
 
Just realised I was talking *******s earlier - you can't do laser tie-back so please ignore me (it has been a long week).

Does your vet think your horse has both a displacing palate (DDSP) and laryngeal paralysis (RLN)?

There are quite a few surgical treatments for DDSP all with about 60% success, but I think a tie-forward is possibly considered the best at the moment (basically you tie the larynx up and forward so the palate can't displace) - this can't be done by laser as sutures have to be put in.

There are 4 grades of RLN and it sounds like your horse is probably only low grade if only partial paralysis - basically in a resting endoscope you want to know whether your horse can abduct his arytenoid cartilages and whether the larynx is symmetrical (G1 = yes to these, G3 = no to these, G4 = everything is immobile). the options for RLN are a hobday (ventriculectomy - remove the ventricles) which reduces noise but not exercise intolerance, and tie-back (prosthetic laryngoplasty - tie the arytenoid cartilage back) which reduces exercise intolerance but not noise.

If you don't think your horse is struggling to exercise than a hobday would be a good start, but as cptrayes says you will need to be careful of insurance. If your vet thinks your horse is likely to need a tie-back in the near future then it may be cheaper for you to get both procedures done together in one surgery, plus you then only have one recovery to worry about!
 
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