Response to lumbosacral region treatment

With 75% of the horses improving following treatment this appears hopeful. The studies reviewed do have weaknesses, lack of controls and the inability to correlate any particular pathology with treatment results leave us wondering about the usefulness of this treatment, but the improvement following treatment would lend you to try this in such cases and indicative that further investigation is warranted.
DrO

Retrospective analysis of horses with ultrasound evaluation of the sacroiliac region and response to local corticosteroid injection: 42 cases
J Equine Vet Sci. 2021 Jul;102:103634.
Authors
Katherine L Ellis 1 , Kathryn Seabaugh 2 , Melissa R King 2
Affiliations

1 Department of Clinical Sciences, Gail Holmes Equine Orthopedic Research Center, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; Department of Clinical Sciences, Colorado State University, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Fort Collins, CO. Electronic address: Katie.Ellis@uga.edu.
2 Department of Clinical Sciences, Gail Holmes Equine Orthopedic Research Center, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; Department of Clinical Sciences, Colorado State University, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Fort Collins, CO.

Abstract

Local injection of corticosteroids is commonly performed in horses with sacroiliac (SI) region pain and/or dysfunction, ,and ultrasound findings of normal horses and those with SI pain have also been well described. However, no studies have been performed that have evaluated if ultrasound findings, injection technique, or medications injected affect prognosis for return to function. The objectives of the current study are to determine if findings on ultrasound, injection technique, or medications injected are predictive of return to function in horses with SI region pain and/or dysfunction. Medical records were evaluated for horses that had ultrasound exam of the SI region as well as local injection with corticosteroids. A client survey was sent to determine the horse’s return to performance. Logistic regression was performed to determine which variables were predictive of horses with SI pain and/or dysfunction returning to performance. A return to the same or higher level of work was found in 26 of 42 (62%) of horses after SI injections, 4 of 42 (10%) of horses returned to a lower level of work, and 12 of 42 (28%) did not return to work at any level. Horses that were injected with methylprednisolone were 4.2 times more likely to return to performance than horses injected with triamcinolone. Factors evaluated on ultrasound of the SI region did not predict whether a horse would return to performance following SI region injection.

Keywords: Corticosteroids; Horse; Sacroiliac; Ultrasound.