Navigational ultrasound imaging to accurately treat lameness.

A study was carried out using navigational ultrasound imaging, also known as fusion imaging, to be used in real time alongside a previously carried out CT or MRI scan. This was to help with the assessment and treatment of lesions.

17 horses with lameness, caused by either tendon or ligament damage, as seen on a MRI scan, were used in this research. Anatomical registration landmarks were chosen near the site of the lesion, and the ultrasound imaging was used in combination with the previous MRI scan.

The use of the fusion imaging with the MRI scan was found to be highly beneficial in 59% of cases. It was considered to improve the precision of the treatment that was being carried out, thereby, hopefully, making the treatment more effective and less invasive.

Even in the cases were the combined use was not considered to be highly beneficial, it was consider to give extra confidence and useful additional information to the treatment process.

Overall the use of the combined imaging was considered to have a positive effect on the procedure, with no negative consequences arising through its use.

Any research that can aid the treatment of lameness in horses, is of value, and in this case, it seems to have provided us with another tool in our collection for the treatment of lameness in horses.

Lustgarten, M., Redding, W., Schnabel, L., Prange, T. and Seiler, G. (2016). Navigational ultrasound imaging: A novel imaging tool for aiding interventional therapies of equine musculoskeletal injuries. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/evj.12410/full.