Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Endoscopic treatment of suspected infectious intertubercular bursitis in a horse.
- Journal:
- Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
- Year:
- 1998
- Authors:
- Tudor, R A et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Food Animal and Equine Medicine · United States
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old male horse was having trouble with his left front leg, showing mild lameness for about a month. When he was checked again after six weeks, the lameness had gotten worse, and he was resistant to moving his left shoulder. Tests suggested that there was an infection in a fluid-filled sac near the shoulder, so the veterinarians used a small camera to look inside and found inflammation. They cleaned out the area and removed the inflamed tissue, and after treatment, the horse was healthy four months later.
Abstract
A 9-year-old gelding was evaluated because of a 30-day history of mild intermittent left forelimb lameness. The only detectable abnormality was mild atrophy of the musculature of the proximal portion of the left forelimb. The cause of the lameness could not be determined. The horse was discharged from the hospital, but was reexamined 6 weeks later because of worsening of the lameness. At that time, the horse resisted flexion and extension of the left shoulder joint, and results of evaluation of an ultrasound-guided aspirate of fluid from the intertubercular bursa were suggestive of infection. Endoscopic examination of the bicipital bursa revealed synovial hypertrophy, particularly in the distal aspect of the bursa. The bursa was lavaged, and a synovial resector was used to remove inflamed synovium. The horse recovered and was healthy 4 months later. In this horse, endoscopy allowed adequate examination of the intertubercular bursa and was not technically difficult.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9838957/