Case of the Month!
This month’s case features SuperK, a 3
yo Paint horse with a longstanding injury to his right
rear leg. Approximately one year ago, the owners
arrived home to find his
leg badly cut with the cannon bone exposed. The wound
was attended and cleaned, but there was not enough
tissue remaining over the bone to close it. Despite the
care the horse received, the wound became worse, and
developed drainage over the period of a few months.
 X-rays
diagnosed a bone infection, and he was treated and put
on antibiotics. For several months, the wound seemed to
be closing, but then it again became swollen and began
to ooze. X-rays were taken which showed further bone
infection, but no foreign body present. Surgery was
done to remove the infected bone and tissue. No foreign
body was found during surgery.
Following surgery, the wound continued to
contract for several months, but never healed and had a
large mass of scar tissue around it. When we were
called out to see him, he had suddenly become non-weightbearing
on the right rear leg, and the leg was very swollen.
X-rays showed a bright foreign
body in the leg area that appeared to be
a piece of metal.
The owner elected to do surgery again,
and we anesthetized him at the farm. A large mass of
scar tissue was resected. Inside this scar tissue was a
darkened, unidentifiable piece of metal, surrounded by
dead and infected tissue. Given the horse’s history, we
assume that the piece had been in there since the
initial injury a year ago.
The area of infected tissue spread up
directly over the hock joint. This presented a large
problem for us,
because the tissue needed to be removed for the horse to
heal. However, it was a dangerous place to operate, as
a very small slip could result in puncturing the hock
joint, which could spell death for the horse.
We decided to try a treatment that is
emerging to be very successful with horses—maggot
therapy. Sterile maggots were ordered from a medical
 supply
company and placed on the wound. It was a complicated
process, as the maggots needed to be confined on the
wound surface with a dressing that was thin enough to
allow them to breathe, but strong enough to keep them
where they belonged while the horse moved around. The
maggots are put on for 48 hours. During that time, they
grow, by eating the dead tissue within the wound.
Maggots only eat dead tissue, so they leave the healthy
tissue behind. After 48 hours, they are removed, and
the wound is allowed to rest for a few days before
another group of maggots is put on.
In this case, the maggots were incredibly
successful. On
the first application, they removed several infected
pieces of bone that we had been unable to get to
during surgery. With each successive application (
Super K had three total), the scar tissue diminished and
the wound began to look more and more
normal.
At
this time, although it is not fully healed, the wound
looks normal for the first time, and is healing at the
expected rate. The horse has finally returned to
training and work. Whole Horse tries to stay at the
cutting
edge of high-quality care, and medical
maggots are definitely on that edge. They turned some
people’s stomachs, but they did what no human surgeon
could have done for this horse!
Check back for other Cases of the
Month!
 |
Denise Bickel DVM
Whole Horse Veterinary Services
Phone # 517-474-4050
Fax # 517-764-7710
3906 Seymour Rd
Jackson, MI 49201
EMAIL US
|
 |
|
