Abstracts | EQUINE
Surgical management of marginal tears/avulsions of the
suspensory ligament branches in 29 Thoroughbred
racehorses
D. T. N. Kadic , G. J. Minshall, I. M. Wright
First published: 12 September 2018
Background
Suspensory ligament branch injuries are common in
horses. Most of these injuries are grouped together and
considered as a single pathologic entity.
Objectives
To report a specific injury of the abaxial margin of the
suspensory ligament branches and to report its surgical
management and outcome.
Study design
Retrospective case series.
Methods
Main limitations
The absence of a comparable population of non‐
surgically managed horses in this study means that the
contribution of removing torn tissue cannot confidently
be assessed.
Conclusions
The location and morphology of injuries described in
this study is consistent, which suggests aetiopathogenic
commonality. This case series suggests this type of
injury has an identity of its own, differs from other
types of suspensory ligament branch injuries and
represents a previously undescribed subgroup.
All horses with suspensory ligament branch injuries
over a 9‐year period (2007–2015) were identified.
Horses with injuries which, on ultrasonographic
examination, appeared to have defects in the abaxial
margin of the suspensory ligament branch, that were
subsequently confirmed during surgery were selected.
https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.13020
Results
Twenty‐nine cases fulfilled the inclusion criteria with
a specific lesion location on the abaxial margin of the
suspensory ligament branch. Nineteen horses raced
successfully after surgery, nine returned to training but
failed to race and one was lost to follow‐up.
• Volume 21 Issue 1 | March 2019 •
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