Cervical Computed Tomography ( CT) and CT Myelography in Live Horses: 16 Cases.

Reasons for performing study Cervical spine lesions are often suspected in horses with neurological signs, abnormal head/neck position and obscure forelimb lameness. Computed tomography ( CT) has the potential to image the cervical spine in 3 dimensions in superior anatomical detail; e.g. lesions that cause compression of the spinal cord and nerve roots, small fragments, and osteoarthritis of the articular process joints may be more easily detected. Objectives To investigate if CT and CT myelography of the entire cervical spine is possible in horses, describe the technique used, the type of horses and distribution of cervical lesions detected. Study design Retrospective case series. Methods Horses undergoing cervical CT and CT myelography from June 2013 to February 2014 were reviewed. The horses were anaesthetised in left lateral recumbency using continuous intravenous anaesthesia. A Philips Brilliance Big Bore 16 slice scanner and a custom made equine CT table (Solving, Finland) were used. Results Cervical CT was performed on 16 horses, 11 of which also had CT myelography: 12 Warmblood, 2 ponies, 1 Standardbred and 1 Paint Horse. Horses ranged in age from 1 to 21 years, and in weight from 406 to 670 kg. Presenting complaints were: neurological symptoms (n = 8), abnormal head/neck position (n = 5), forelimb lameness (n = 4), Horners syndrome (n = 1). In all cases (n = 16) the cervical spine from the skull to C7 could be imaged, in 3 cases T1 was imaged and in one case T3. Significant lesions were detected in 14 horses. The sites of the most significant lesions were: C4- C5 (n = 3), C5- C6 (n = 2), C6- C7 (n = 5) and C7- T1 (n = 2), cervical stenosis C5- T2 (n = 1) and muscle injury (n = 1). Length of anaesthesia ranged from 35 to 70 min (median 60 min), with one complicated recovery. Conclusions Cervical CT and CT myelography can be performed in large adult horses. CT may be the future gold standard to evaluate equine cervical lesions. Further studies are needed. Ethical animal research: Ethical committee oversight not currently required by this congress: retrospective study of clinical records. Explicit owner informed consent for participation in this study was not stated. Sources of funding: None. Competing interests: None. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]