2.Horses with suspected stress fractures or non-displaced fractures that are not evident on radiographs. 3.Horses with multiple sites of lameness. These horses can be scanned to identify sites that are most active and in need of treatment. 4.Horses with very subtle lameness, or lameness that cannot be localized by nerve blocks. 5.Horses with suspected lesions in the upper hind limb, pelvis, or back that are not amenable to radiographs.
Bone scans require the use of very small amounts of radiation.
The radiation exposure to the horse is about the same exposure that the horse would receive from typical chest radiographs. Strict state and university safety rules require that the horse stay at the Large Animal Teaching Hospital for one to two days after the scan to allow the horse to eliminate the drug. The majority of lameness problems can be diagnosed and managed by routine examination procedures, radiographs, and ultrasound. Nuclear scintigraphy will allow us to identify lameness problems that are not readily diagnosed by these other procedures. In the short time the scintigraphy unit has been in place, it already has been instrumental in the diagnosis of several very difficult lameness problems.