nuclear scintigraphy

RubySlipper · 03-31-2004, 03:33 PM

Has anyone ever had a horse that has had this done?
Ruby is up at the clinic having this done tomorrow morning. She went in this morning to have digital x-rays done, she has been on and off lame in her right front, she blocks sound when her coffin bone is nerve blocked so we had that x-rayed back in Dec. but the x-rays showed nothing. I had the vet out to look at her again after that (new vet as I moved from school back home, he got all the reports sent from the vet in NJ and the x-rays he too saw nothing) The vet thought she was not lame at this point just slightly off and to work her and see if she got better or worse. She stayed sound all through Feb. and than started going off again in March. I had the vet back out and he re-blocked her and x-rayed her again. He thought he saw something on her coffin bone but wanted digital x-rays done so we took her up to the clinic today for the digital x-rays (which are really cool they instantly come up on the computer scree.) and the vet thought he might see something but nothing jumped out at him meaning he didn't see a definate fracture. So he recomended having a bone scan or nuclear scintography done.
They have to keep her for 24 hours after also because she is considered radioactive for 24 hourse after, and I am not even allowed to go see her.
This is a very expensive procedure and I was wondering if anyone has had it done, and had any luck with diagnosing a lameness with it.

RubySlipper · 03-31-2004, 05:06 PM

Does anyone know anything about this???

PawNHoofPrints · 03-31-2004, 07:36 PM

Nuclear scintigraphy, in and of itself, will NOT diagnose the lameness specifically. It will, however, localize the area of the lesion if there is active remodeling of the bone. With nuclear scintigraphy, a radioactive dye (technecium) is injected into the vein of the horse. The dye is allowed to travel throughout the body for at least 2 (??) hours. The horse is then "read" by a gamma camera that detects the radioactivity. Areas that are "hot" indicating bone remodeling while have lots of the dye localized there and appear brighter on the screen.

Your horse will be considered "hot" for at least 24 hours following the procedure. (Possibly longer depending on your areas acceptable radioactivity levels). The radioactive dye will be excreted through the urine. Therefore the stall she is stabled in will be considered "hot" for several days even after your horse leaves because the remaining substance in her urine will have to naturally decay.

For everyone's safety involved, it is best to minimize your contact with the horse. While doing the procedure, if the horse pees and you get it on you (which is pretty much impossible to avoid in a mare unless you are very fast with the bucket), you lose your shoes, socks, pants, and anything else "hot" until it naturally decays.

Fun times.

How old is Ruby and what breed? What do you do with her? Why do they think it is a fracture? Have they considered pedal osteitis (although usually seen in conjugation within laminitis)? Have her radiographs been evaluated by a board certified veterinary radiologist? If not, I think I do that before I jumped to a bone scan as they are far from cheap and not always that helpful, especially since you've already localized it to her right coffin bone area. To send rads to be looked at (with a good history included) usually only costs $30 - $60.

RubySlipper · 04-01-2004, 08:12 PM

Ruby is a 6 year old Trakehner mare. We have had regular x-rays done twice (once by Furlongs and associoates the vets for the USET and the second time by a vet from Belmont) Than I had digital x-rays done by Farfield Equine (the hospital that she is at now) and they still did not really see anything so they decided after all that it was time to do the bone scan. She had it done today but the tech will not give results and the vet has been out all day on calls and emergencies so I will not get the results until he goes to the hospital tomorrow morning at 8:30.

PawNHoofPrints · 04-04-2004, 09:29 AM

What did they find out about her?

RubySlipper · 04-04-2004, 05:57 PM

They actually found nothing in the coffin bone, but the navicular lit up. So they did digital x-rays of the navicular and found what he called a tear away, a ligament tore away a small piece of the navicular bone. The vet injected the navicular bursa and told me to give her three days off and than start her back in light work, so we will see...it is all a waiting game at this point to see if we can get her sound, but at least we know what we are dealing with now.

PawNHoofPrints · 04-04-2004, 07:53 PM

I hope she does great. Do they have to go in and remove the bone chip or just inject the bursa?

RubySlipper · 04-05-2004, 09:05 PM

They do not have to remove the chip, it was very small and I guess it disolved on its own. As you know we had a lot of trouble diagnosing this injury as it was very small. It did not show up on regular x-rays, and was not noticed in the digital x-rays until after the nuclear scintigraphy showed where they needed to really look with a fine tooth comb.
I am trying to get an appointment to have her shod at the vet clinic so the vet can have them do exactly what he wants and than my farrier can just fallow what he had done.

03-31-2004, 03:33 PM	#1
RubySlipper Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 566	nuclear scintigraphy Has anyone ever had a horse that has had this done? Ruby is up at the clinic having this done tomorrow morning. She went in this morning to have digital x-rays done, she has been on and off lame in her right front, she blocks sound when her coffin bone is nerve blocked so we had that x-rayed back in Dec. but the x-rays showed nothing. I had the vet out to look at her again after that (new vet as I moved from school back home, he got all the reports sent from the vet in NJ and the x-rays he too saw nothing) The vet thought she was not lame at this point just slightly off and to work her and see if she got better or worse. She stayed sound all through Feb. and than started going off again in March. I had the vet back out and he re-blocked her and x-rayed her again. He thought he saw something on her coffin bone but wanted digital x-rays done so we took her up to the clinic today for the digital x-rays (which are really cool they instantly come up on the computer scree.) and the vet thought he might see something but nothing jumped out at him meaning he didn't see a definate fracture. So he recomended having a bone scan or nuclear scintography done. They have to keep her for 24 hours after also because she is considered radioactive for 24 hourse after, and I am not even allowed to go see her. This is a very expensive procedure and I was wondering if anyone has had it done, and had any luck with diagnosing a lameness with it.

03-31-2004, 05:06 PM	#2
RubySlipper Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 566	Does anyone know anything about this???

03-31-2004, 07:36 PM	#3
PawNHoofPrints Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: USA Posts: 762	Nuclear scintigraphy, in and of itself, will NOT diagnose the lameness specifically. It will, however, localize the area of the lesion if there is active remodeling of the bone. With nuclear scintigraphy, a radioactive dye (technecium) is injected into the vein of the horse. The dye is allowed to travel throughout the body for at least 2 (??) hours. The horse is then "read" by a gamma camera that detects the radioactivity. Areas that are "hot" indicating bone remodeling while have lots of the dye localized there and appear brighter on the screen. Your horse will be considered "hot" for at least 24 hours following the procedure. (Possibly longer depending on your areas acceptable radioactivity levels). The radioactive dye will be excreted through the urine. Therefore the stall she is stabled in will be considered "hot" for several days even after your horse leaves because the remaining substance in her urine will have to naturally decay. For everyone's safety involved, it is best to minimize your contact with the horse. While doing the procedure, if the horse pees and you get it on you (which is pretty much impossible to avoid in a mare unless you are very fast with the bucket), you lose your shoes, socks, pants, and anything else "hot" until it naturally decays. Fun times. How old is Ruby and what breed? What do you do with her? Why do they think it is a fracture? Have they considered pedal osteitis (although usually seen in conjugation within laminitis)? Have her radiographs been evaluated by a board certified veterinary radiologist? If not, I think I do that before I jumped to a bone scan as they are far from cheap and not always that helpful, especially since you've already localized it to her right coffin bone area. To send rads to be looked at (with a good history included) usually only costs $30 - $60.

04-01-2004, 08:12 PM	#4
RubySlipper Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 566	Ruby is a 6 year old Trakehner mare. We have had regular x-rays done twice (once by Furlongs and associoates the vets for the USET and the second time by a vet from Belmont) Than I had digital x-rays done by Farfield Equine (the hospital that she is at now) and they still did not really see anything so they decided after all that it was time to do the bone scan. She had it done today but the tech will not give results and the vet has been out all day on calls and emergencies so I will not get the results until he goes to the hospital tomorrow morning at 8:30.

04-04-2004, 09:29 AM	#5
PawNHoofPrints Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: USA Posts: 762	What did they find out about her?

04-04-2004, 05:57 PM	#6
RubySlipper Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 566	They actually found nothing in the coffin bone, but the navicular lit up. So they did digital x-rays of the navicular and found what he called a tear away, a ligament tore away a small piece of the navicular bone. The vet injected the navicular bursa and told me to give her three days off and than start her back in light work, so we will see...it is all a waiting game at this point to see if we can get her sound, but at least we know what we are dealing with now.

04-04-2004, 07:53 PM	#7
PawNHoofPrints Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: USA Posts: 762	I hope she does great. Do they have to go in and remove the bone chip or just inject the bursa?

04-05-2004, 09:05 PM	#8
RubySlipper Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 566	They do not have to remove the chip, it was very small and I guess it disolved on its own. As you know we had a lot of trouble diagnosing this injury as it was very small. It did not show up on regular x-rays, and was not noticed in the digital x-rays until after the nuclear scintigraphy showed where they needed to really look with a fine tooth comb. I am trying to get an appointment to have her shod at the vet clinic so the vet can have them do exactly what he wants and than my farrier can just fallow what he had done.