Premium
Computed tomography of nuchal ligament and semispinalis capitis tendon avulsions in a foal
Author(s) -
Swarbrick M. T.,
Powell S. E.,
Haggett E. F.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
equine veterinary education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.304
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 2042-3292
pISSN - 0957-7734
DOI - 10.1111/eve.12627
Subject(s) - foal , medicine , avulsion , computed tomography , surgery , archaeology , history
Summary Head trauma is a common injury in young horses. This case report describes a 10‐week‐old Thoroughbred foal with an open wound following trauma to the poll region, showing abnormal head carriage and depression. A computed tomography ( CT ) study was performed under general anaesthetic ( GA ). This identified a complete avulsion of the nuchal ligament ( NL ) and partial avulsions of the left and right semispinalis capitis ( SS ) tendons. Following diagnosis and conservative treatment the foal made a good recovery and 18 months later the filly had no detectable neurological or physical abnormalities. Computed tomography enabled an accurate and rapid diagnosis of a novel injury.