This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Respiratory System » Strangles & Streptococcus equi »
  Discussion on Large Lump on Neck?
Author Message
New Member:
Lynn0577

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 11, 2003 - 9:06 pm:

We recently acquired a QH gelding who developed a very large hard lump on the left side of his neck up to and touching his jaw. It is about the size of a fist. The horse is showing no other signs of strangles. It ran a temp for about 5 days, but now that seems to be under control for the past 4 days. At first our Vet thought it may be Strangles. But due to lack of any other signs, has ruled this out. Then they thought it may be a blown vein due to some past treatment causing a caustic effect which produced an abcess. Then they thought it may be a foreign object. They want to come and do an ultra sound to see where the pocket of pus may be or if they can see a foreign object. The horse has never been off feed. At the last Vet visit, he tried to aspirate it, but found very thick dense fibroid scare tissue. The needle finally inserted only to reveal blood. The horse is now starting to scratch and itch the area on his stall door. We have been doing hot packs 2x a day. SMZ's 2 x a day for about two weeks. At this point I am at a stand still. It is not decreasing in size or enlarging in size. The barn that we got him from has had no problems or outbreaks of strangles.
What is your opionion on this?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jun 12, 2003 - 7:18 am:

Welcome Lynn,
I think the ultrasound exam is logical, if a puss pocket can be found it can be drained and a more rapid resolution. If this is negative and the mass solid a biopsy (with a biopsy needle) would be the next step. This area is a bit complicated and on the list of possibilities should be:
  • enlarged lymph gland
  • enlarged parotid salivary gland
  • abscess or granuloma
  • tumor
DrO
Member:
Lynn0577

Posted on Friday, Jun 13, 2003 - 4:16 pm:

Hi Dr. Oglesby -
We did the ultra sound. No pus - no foreign object. What we did find was that the main vein on the left side of his neck was solid with scare tissue and no blood flow. Only part of the vein on the right side was functioning. The lump is part inflamation, part scare tissue and part edema and inflamation. Cause - past injections of something like Bute. Treatment - 2 more weeks on SMZ's, neck sweat with a combo of DMSO and Nitrofurazone, 5 day course of cortisone paste. The goal is for the lump to receed within two weeks on this treatment. I believe the isuue is called Phlebitis??? Does this sound right and make sense to you? I understand that horses do not need these two main veins to function or return back to work. That they have additional veins going up thier spine into the brain to deliver blood. What's your opionion?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jun 14, 2003 - 9:55 am:

Phlebitis (inflamation of the vein) and a surrounding cellulitis sounds correct from the description. Bute is quite irritating if injected out of the vein or into the wall of the vein. Which veins are affected (seemed a little high for just the jugular in your first post), what percentage of the right vein(s)side is occluded, and how long ago were the bute injections given? Also why would the bute be given?
DrO
Member:
Lynn0577

Posted on Saturday, Jun 14, 2003 - 8:24 pm:

Hi Again -
WOW! You respond quickly! Without being very knowledable of the circulatory system, I do not know the exact name of the veins. It is the main vein running down both the left and right side of the horses neck. The veins used to pull blood or do intervenous injections. Hope this makes sense. I do not know the background of the horse and the prior owner does not acknowledge any intravenous treatments under thier ownership. I acquired him from a leasing organization. According to my vet it could have been something like bute or tetracycline - caustic in nature. Is a blown vein called an occluded vein? More than half of the right vein is also gone. My vet says we have about 6 inches to work with on that side to pull blood in the future. I guess we can always use a vein in the leg. Will these veins ever function in the future? How will this effect his performance going forward? Do other veins compensate and take over? Since I am only leasing this horse at the moment, what additional testing would you reccommend I do on the horse before I make any final decisions to purchase him.

Lynn
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Jun 15, 2003 - 8:45 am:

A blown vein is a nonspecific term with lots of different meanings and not knowing what caused it or when it was done makes it impossible to prognosticate the result. I will presume this is the jugular vein.

I have known horses with one non-functioning jugular vein with no problems but have not seen a horse with one collapsed and only 50% of the other functioning. There are some smaller deeper veins that help drain the head and if you are not experiencing problems now, we will keep our fingers crossed. When I return home on Monday I will see if I can find some published case reports on horses with this much damage. But since there are so many unknowns with your case I suspect you are going to be finding out what your horse is capable of one day at a time.
DrO
Member:
Lynn0577

Posted on Sunday, Jun 15, 2003 - 7:39 pm:

Thanks for your help. I would love to know if there are any similar cases. Two Vets from the same practice came out. One is new out of Cornell. My regular Vet said he should have no problems as other veins take over. The second new Vet said that he has seen both jugular veins on race horses cut off and go back to racing without any problems. In fact he states you can do this in most animals. It is only humans who have a problem. He said there is a major vein going up the spine to the brain that takes over the major function. I will look forward to hearing what your findings are.

Lynn
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jun 16, 2003 - 6:14 am:

I have found a recent case report of 3 horses that had problems with facial edema following occlusion of both jugular veins. It was serious enough to consider experimental surgery:
Equine Vet J. 1998 May;30(3):236-9.
Reconstruction of the jugular vein in horses with post thrombophlebitis stenosis using saphenous vein graft.
A surgical technique is described in which a saphenous vein graft is used to reconstruct the jugular vein in horses with facial oedema due to post thrombophlebitic stenosis of the jugular vein. The saphenous vein was harvested from the contralateral limb and implanted in the occluded vein by 2 side-to-end anastomoses. Intra- and post operatively anticoagulative medication was administered. In 2 out of 3 patients the reconstruction resulted in a permanent patent graft and resolution of the facial oedema. In one patient the graft thrombosed.

Apparently not all horses manage without complications when both vessels are occluded Lynn. I am hoping this was a recently caused problem by something that did not do irrepairable damage and this will improve with time.
DrO
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC