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Home » Archive » 2019

TDK conference 2019

Comparison of thoracic ultrasonographic findings before and after bronchoalveolar lavage in horses with equine asthma
Zsiga Tamás Gáspár - year 6
University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Department and Clinic of Equine Medicine
Supervisor: Dr. Zoltán Bakos

Abstract:

Poor performance in horses is most often caused by musculoskeletal diseases, while the second most frequent group of diseases comprises respiratory conditions. Concerning their incidence, mild to moderate equine asthma (inflammatory airway disease, IAD), and severe equine asthma (recurrent airway obstruction, RAO) are of high significance among the diseases of the lower airways, as many as 80% of the horses in training could be affected with mild to moderate equine asthma.

Both bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and thoracic ultrasonography are considered as routine diagnostic procedures in horses suffering from lower airway diseases. Before our current study there were no literature data on whether the 250-500 ml sterile physiological saline solution instilled into the lower airways during BAL affects thoracic ultrasonographic findings. Our goal was to answer this question, the immediate practical benefit of which would be to determine the order of application of these two diagnostic methods.

In our study we examined 20 horses suffering from equine asthma. We did thoracic ultrasonography both before and after BAL, then we compared and evaluated the results of the two ultrasonographic examinations.

The distribution of comet tail artefacts was significantly different in different intercostal spaces (ICS) before BAL. The cranial intercostal spaces were more affected (left side: 5th ICS: 7, 6th ICS: 15, 7th ICS: 10 horses had artefacts; right side: 5th ICS: 16, 6th ICS: 9, 7th ICS: 6 animals showed this abnormality). The overall number of comet tail artefacts was significantly higher after BAL. When hemithoraces were compared separately, the difference was also significant between before and after results. Significant differences were found in several individual ICS between before and after results (left side: 4th, 5th, 8th, 10th, and 12th to 16th; right side: triceps, 4th, 6th, 7th and 10th to 12th). Comet tail artefacts showed a characteristic pattern before BAL, being more frequent in the cranioventral part of the thorax.

BAL affected thoracic ultrasonographic findings in this study population. To avoid misinterpretation of findings, it is recommended to perform ultrasonography before bronchoalveolar lavage.



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