Effects of adding butorphanol to a balanced anaesthesia protocol during arthroscopic surgery in horses.

Three groups of horses scheduled for arthroscopic surgery were premedicated with 0.025 mg/kg acepromazine, 88 microg/kg romifidine and 25 mg/kg guaifenesin, and anaesthesia was induced with 2.2 mg/kg ketamine. In group 1 (14 horses), anaesthesia was maintained by halothane vaporised in oxygen, with supplementary doses of 20 microg/kg romifidine and 0.5 mg/kg ketamine every 20 minutes. The 17 horses in group 2 were maintained as for group 1; however, an additional dose of 0.05 mg/kg butorphanol was administered before the first incision. The 14 horses in group 3 were maintained as for group 2, except that the dose of romifidine was halved to 10 microg/kg. The mean (sd) dose of vaporised halothane (6.5 [1.1], 4.8 [1.3] and 4.8 [1.3] microl/kg/minute, for groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively), vaporiser dial setting (2.3 [0.2],1.6 [0.4] and 1.3 [0.1] per cent) and dose of dobutamine administered to correct episodes of hypotension (0.16 [0.08], 0.07 [0.09] and 0.0 [0.0] microg/kg/minute) were all significantly lower in groups 2 and 3 than in group 1. Mean arterial blood pressure was significantly higher in groups 2 and 3 than in group 1 (71 [3], 74 [5] and 80 [5] mmHg, for groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively).

Location of radiological lesions of the thoracolumbar column in French trotters with and without signs of back pain.

The radiographs of 102 French trotters presented with signs of back pain were reviewed retrospectively, and a control group of 16 French trotters without back pain was analysed. The age, sex, type of race, number of starts, earnings and index of performance were recorded. Radiological evaluation was performed from the 14th thoracic (T14) to the third lumbar (L3) vertebra. Impingement of the spinous processes (ISP), periarticular proliferation of synovial intervertebral articulations (PP-SIA) and sclerosis of SIA (S-SIA) were located and graded. Radiological lesions were identified in 10 (62 per cent) of horses in the control group and 98 (96 per cent) of horses in the clinical group. The number of affected horses, the number of radiological lesions per horse and the mean number of affected intervertebral spaces were significantly higher in the clinical group. For ISP, the number of affected horses was not significantly different between the groups, but the number of affected interspinous spaces and the grade of lesions were significantly higher in the clinical group. For PP-SIA, the number of affected horses, the number of affected SIA and the grade of lesions were significantly higher in the clinical group. For S-SIA, the number of affected horses and the number of affected SIA were not significantly different between the groups but the grade of lesions was significantly higher in the clinical group. In both groups, ISP was most commonly encountered between T15-T18 and PP-SIA and S-SIA were most commonly encountered between T17-L2. Radiographic lesions of the back were less severe and more localised in horses without back pain than in those with back pain.

Reactivity against Sarcocystis neurona and Neospora by serum antibodies in healthy French horses from two farms with previous equine protozoal myeloencephalitis-like cases.

Sarcocystis neurona is considered a leading cause of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), a common infectious neurological disease in horses in the Americas. EPM-like cases associated with S. neurona peptide reactive antibodies in Western blots were recently described in Normandy, France. In this report, antibodies reacting with S. neurona merozoites were detected using an agglutination assay at titers ranging from 50 to 500 in sera from 18/50 healthy horses from two farms with a previous EPM-like case. Higher values were found in older animals. Four out of six horses which traveled or stayed in the US exhibited titers over 50, a higher figure than in the group which did not travel out of France or stayed in an other European country. No correlation was found between anti-S. neurona and anti-Neospora sp. antibody titers. Data prompt further study of significance of anti-S. neurona antibodies in clinically healthy or diseased European horses, and identification of putative immunizing parasite(s) and their host(s).