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  Discussion on Joint effusion
Author Message
Member:
Skutyba

Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 1:06 am:

I have a 4 yr. old Appendix mare that injured her right fetlock in Dec. Fortunately, she was found w/in 2 hours of injury. At the time, the surgeon wouldn't even discuss if she would be 'broodmare sound', but the only alternative to surgery was euthanasia.

She underwent emergency surgery to repair a 1.5+ inch hole in her fetlock joint.
A second surgery was performed 3 wks later due to development of a fistula. Post both surgeries, she was treated aggressively with iv antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, joint lavage, IA injections, support wraps from hoof to knee, and strict confinement.
It has been some time and she has done well. She's followed closely with serial radiographs and IV Legend.
6 wks+ ago, she had minor puffy-ness in the joint; the vet tapped it, and then injected it with HA/steroid. This worked great.
Over the past few weeks, she has been introduced to turn-out in small areas, and has been doing great. This week, her fetlock had additional swelling and what appeared similar to windpuffs..and minor lameness at the trot. The vet re-examined her and confirmed she had some inflammation & joint effusion. The joint was tapped and injected with HA/steroid.
The prognosis for her returning to work has been positive, and minor exercise was approved (prior to this), but I decided to give it more time.
The concerns I forgot to address with my vets, is:
-if additional episodes of joint effusion occur, will it compromise the joint?
-any way to prevent this? should I expect more episodes?
-while I am aware the HA/steroid injections reduce the inflammatory process, are there longer-term negative affects I should be concerned with?

Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated. At this stage, money is not a major deciding factor; insuring maximal soundness & comfort is the goal.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 7:58 am:

Taking your questions one at a time:
1) Not neccesarily, it depends on the nature of the effusions and how it is treated.
2) If it is inflammatory the steroid/HA goes a long way but oral joint supplements and Adequan injections might help, see article for more on this. Whether inflammatory or not regular wraping when stalled might also help.
3) We carefully explain the effects and side effects of steroid use in the article "Arthritis and DJD: An Overview". Look in the treatment section.
DrO
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