Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Thermographic diagnostics in equine back pain.
- Journal:
- The Veterinary clinics of North America. Equine practice
- Year:
- 1999
- Authors:
- Graf von Schweinitz, D
- Affiliation:
- Equine Veterinary Clinic · United Kingdom
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
Infrared thermographic imaging (ITI) is a special technique that uses heat to help detect back problems in horses. It focuses on how blood flow changes in the skin over the back, which can indicate pain, but interpreting the results requires careful attention to detail. While most discussions about back pain in horses focus on inflammation and pain signals, ITI can also reveal issues that aren't caused by inflammation but still lead to chronic pain. This type of pain is often overlooked in horses, even though it happens frequently and can be treated. Overall, ITI offers valuable insights into diagnosing and understanding back pain in horses.
Abstract
Infrared thermographic imaging (ITI) is the most sensitive objective imaging currently available for the detection of back disease in horses. It is, however, only a physiological study primarily of vasomotor tone overlying other superficial tissue factors. Interpretation requires extreme care in imaging protocol and in understanding the significance of altered sympathetic nervous tone and the sympathetic distribution. Most discussions on back pain have centered on nociception and inflammatory events. ITI provides information and localization for more significant than diagnosing areas of hot spots. Chronic back pain usually involves vasoconstriction at the affected sites and from ITI studies in man, we have an opportunity to appreciate chronic pain phenomena that involves non-inflammatory events. These occur commonly in horses, but are still seldom recognized and treated.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10218248/