Guarded Prognosis for Navicular Bursa Masses

Veterinarians in the United Kingdom evaluated the records of 59 horses (mostly Irish sport horses and warmbloods) with lameness that were examined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), found to have a synovial mass on the dorsal aspect of the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) in the navicular bursa and subsequently underwent bursography (endoscopy of the bursa).

They were interested in the correlation between the MRI images and what they found at surgery and if the prognosis for returning to performance was related to the size of these masses, which are described as clumps of collagenous tissue extruding from DDFT lesions into the bursa.

There was a strong correlation between the sizes of the lesions and masses seen on MRI and during surgery. However, there was little association between the sizes of the lesions or the masses and the outcome of returning to the patients’ previous levels of exercise. Following surgical removal of the masses, only 30% of the horses returned to their previous level of work, a prognosis the authors regard as worse than previously reported.

— Giorio ME et al. EVJ 2023:14040

Obesity in Irish Ponies

From the veterinary school in Dublin, researchers surveyed 200 Connemara ponies to determine the prevalence of obesity, related metabolic diseases and laminitis and investigate whether insulin dysregulation and laminitis could be predicted from measures of obesity.

Owners completed a questionnaire and the ponies were examined to record body condition (BCS, 1-9 Henneke scale) and cresty neck (0-5…