Equine Health Update EHU Vol 19 Issue 3 | Page 8

EQUINE | Equine Disease Update

EQUINE | Equine Disease Update

Science-in-brief : Clinical highlights from 50th Congress of the South African Equine Veterinary Association 2017

Compiled by Dr Sean Miller and Keith Spargo for EVJ
Reproduced with the permission of the Editor , Equine Veterinary Journal . The original article can be found Equine Veterinary Journal , 49 : 266 – 268 ; http :// onlinelibrary . wiley . com / wol1 / doi / 10.1111 / evj . 12678 / full
Celebrating its 50th anniversary , the South African Equine Veterinary Association ( SAEVA ) congress took place in the beautiful Skukuza Rest Camp , Kruger National Park , South Africa from 12 to 16 February 2017 . Thirteen international speakers presented research and clinical information to over 300 veterinarians , nurses , students and trade delegates . The combination of the African bushveld and top class equine veterinary knowledge set the scene for a one-of-a-kind experience for the delegates . Clinically significant highlights from the congress are summarised below .
Orthopaedics
Prof Wayne McIlwraith discussed the advances in the diagnosis of osteoarthritis . A large amount of work on computed tomography ( CT ), particularly by Kawcak [ 1 ], looked at the ability to determine density of bone and predict early ( precatastrophic ) changes . CT also provides value as a diagnostic tool for the equine stifle , particularly when looking at the cranial meniscal ligament . Frisbie and Barrrett [ 2 ] have pioneered the use of diagnostic needle arthroscopy in combination with ultrasonography of the stifle as a minimally invasive procedure . The use of serum biomarkers to predict early osteoarthritis and injury has been validated [ 3 ] and could be used to channel patients to relevant diagnostic imaging modalities , or the adjustment of training regimes of the equine athlete . With respect to recent advances in treatment of joint disease , intra-articular use of triamcinolone and hyaluronic acid have been shown to be more effective as singular rather than combination treatments [ 4,5 ] while the use of i . v . hyaluronic acid remains unvalidated . Oral use of hyaluronic acid is supported by good evidence [ 6 ] and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist protein therapy has been well validated ; however , the use of corticosteroids at the same time is contraindicated . Intra-articular stem cell therapy , using bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells , has shown to be extremely useful [ 7 ], particularly for the treatment of osteoarthritis and regrowth of damaged menisci .
Clinical highlights : Standing CT of the distal limb is becoming more readily available ( including in South Africa ) expanding diagnostic abilities available without the need for general anaesthesia .
Surgery
A major portion of work in the past few years around equine surgery has involved reducing the risks associated with surgery and the anaesthetic [ 8,9 ]. Dr Bruce Bladon suggested in his presentation that one of the main ways of reducing complications is ensuring a preand post-operative checklist is completed allowing the surgical and anaesthetic team to be fully prepared for the surgery . Equine anaesthesia has also evolved dramatically in the last few years . The third Confidential Enquiry of Perioperative Equine Fatalities ( CEPEF ) was a randomised trial comparing perioperative mortality between isoflurane and halothane . The results were not conclusive , showing no significant difference between
8 • Equine Health Update •