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  Discussion on Laser ablation of a urethral web to relieve urinary outflow obstruction
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Posted on Wednesday, Jun 27, 2001 - 8:11 pm:

J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001 Jun 15;218(12):1970-2, 1937
Neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser ablation of a urethral web to relieve urinary outflow obstruction in a horse.Blikslager AT, Tate LP Jr, Jones SL.Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27606, USA.An 8-year-old Hanoverian gelding was examined because of urine dribbling and urethral obstruction. Mild proprioceptive deficits of the left hind limb were evident during neurologic examination. Ultrasonography per rectum revealed dilatation of the pelvic portion of the urethra. Endoscopy of the urethra revealed 2 webs of tissue: 1 was located 10 cm proximal to the external urethral opening; the other was located 65 cm proximal to the external urethral opening and prevented passage of the endoscope into the urinary bladder. The mass was ablated with a neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser, using a transendoscopic noncontact technique. On follow-up examination 6 months after laser surgery, an endoscope could easily be passed into the bladder, and no urethral web was seen. The horse was able to void a stream of urine but continued to dribble urine intermittently. The proximal location of the urethral lesion in this horse would have made use of traditional surgical methods problematic, whereas transendoscopic laser photoablation was easy and effective.

Posted on Tuesday, Oct 23, 2001 - 8:26 am:

I have a gelding with the same problem. I was curious to know whether or not the gelding you spoke of has since recovered completely. If he is still dribbling "intermittently" does it interfere with his usefulness. At this time I do not know exactly what is causing the lack of bladder control but my horse is scheduled for an ultrasound this afternoon. I would like to know if this laser surgery would help my horse.

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 24, 2001 - 7:17 am:

There have been no further reports Lisa but the summary implies that the horse will probably continue to drip through out the rest of his life. Because you currently do not know the cause of the dribbling it is unknown if this surgery might help but it sounds like you are making the first steps to finding out.
DrO
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