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Strontium plesiotherapy for the treatment of sarcoids in the horse
Author(s) -
Hollis A. R.
Publication year - 2020
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.13038
Subject(s) - medicine , adverse effect , horse , surgery , strontium , physics , nuclear physics , biology , paleontology
Summary Sarcoids are a common condition in the horse. They are often difficult to treat and there is no universally effective treatment method. Radiotherapy is the most consistently successful treatment and plesiotherapy may be effective for carefully selected sarcoid lesions. The objective of this retrospective clinical case series was to describe the response rate and safety of strontium plesiotherapy for the treatment of equine sarcoids. Horses and ponies referred for strontium treatment of sarcoids were eligible for inclusion in the study and diagnosis was based solely on the clinical features. Horses were given a total tumour dose of 100 Gy under either standing sedation or general anaesthesia, depending on the accessibility of the lesion. Eight horses with 10 sarcoids were treated with strontium plesiotherapy. Follow‐up was available for between 6 and 30 months after treatment. Complete resolution occurred in all cases. No significant short or long‐term adverse effects were noted apart from local leucotrichia, leukoderma and hair loss. The major limitations of this study are the lack of long‐term follow‐up and the small number of horses. It was concluded that strontium plesiotherapy appears to be an effective and safe method of treating selected equine sarcoids. This is a useful alternative for lesions in areas difficult to treat with other methods or where other methods have been unsuccessful. Longer term follow‐up is required to determine the risk of recurrence of treated lesions.