Ep 5 - The Scoop on Horse Stifle OCD

Today on A Stride Above, Dr. Alberto Rullan continues his discussion on Osteochondrosis Dissecans, usually referred to as OCD. If you missed our introduction to OCD’s, head back to Episode 4 here! This time Dr. Alberto Rullan will be specifically talking about OCD in stifle joints in horses.

In this episode you’ll learn about:
• How old a horse can be to develop stifle joint problems.
• What are bone cyst or cyst like structures?
• Possible treatment options.
• The benefits and risks to performing a stifle surgery.

To see more in depth information, studies and radiographs on this topic visit www.equinearthritis.info. Have more questions? Don’t hesitate to send them in and connect with us on our socials listed below! 

Be sure to subscribe, follow and rate this podcast! See you back here next week for more helpful tips and guidance on improving the mindful care of your horse’s health! 

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Transcript

0:03

Welcome to a stride above podcast where our commitment to excellence in equine health at athletic performance unites us. Join your host Dr. Alberto rely on as we trot through the essential topics that matter most to you and your equine family members. With over 15 years of experience in equine Sports, medicine and rehabilitation, Dr. Rizwan is dedicated to navigating you through the latest innovations and essential insights in horse health together will ensure that you and your horses always remain a stride above the rest. Hey, welcome to another episode of ACE tradeable today I'm gonna do a continuation of our previous episode on OCD by the way, if you want to see radiograph of what I'm talking about don't forget you can go to our page www dot equine arthritis dot info www dot ecoin arthritis dot info in this page I'll show you a compilation of data over the years that I have seen which are the most common causes of OCD Arthritis joint problems in general and then you're going to find a bunch of other nice links from this page on a lot of information in this page again it's www dot equine arthritis dot info. So continuation of our previous topic on OCD because this topic can get very very hot in the equine industry. I'm going to I'm going to jump right away to the most controversial joint for OCD which is the stifle stifle is a joint that can develop problems on the very late in the life of the horse stifle could be perfectly normal when the horse is one year old. But then, as the horse continues to grow until it's two or two and a half years old, that horse can develop OCD Believe it or not, I have had horses that we purchase in when they are one year old, or any sale then we take any radiograph or surveys on January or February. And boom we see OCD as we can see even bone cyst in these in these tables. Why do I mention bone says because they're relatively common. And sometimes the your veterinarian might talk about loosened seas there's a lucency on this die for what that is, that is a bone says I'm gonna give you the the layman's explanation for what a bone cyst is, it is a hole in the bones, that's what it is, is a hole in the bone. Remember our previous explanation that there is a bone here and a bone here. And he has to work very nice and smooth, right in order to have any movement if the bone has a hole, and that bone, the area we call it a cyst or better termed sift like structures. Now I can get very complicated. And we can go into very finite granular terms because in the literature, we call them sis light structure because there's a catch, most of them are not truly cyst, you know, you go to the dermatologist or you go to some doctor and they tell you you have a cyst, you have a cavity that is full with fluid or with some material and he has something that we call a lining around it. scientific terms, nothing necessarily important that you need to know because the end result is that this bone is starting to develop a hole. And we're going to call this hole many times assist, you just need to remember that if there's a veterinarian that's very academic next to you is gonna call it a cyst like structure because it looks like a cyst, sometimes it behave like a cyst, and that some of them are part of this OCD situation that we're talking about. In addition, this type who can have all their OCD is in other areas like the patella, a place that we call the trochlear ridges, and you can go to our web page and you'll see all that and it could have it has to trochlear rigid the medial the lateral and all these LCDs should be will monitor with radiograph constantly because guess what, some of them will disappear on themselves, some of them will heal on them by themselves. Some of some of them will never bother the horse, and some of them will be very detrimental. So your veterinarian will help you decide which ones which one is which right. There are many things that we can do for these problems. For example, in this Typhoid is becoming very common to do stem cells after surgery or before surgery due to what we call the the screw placement across the cyst, you will start hearing more and more about it because it's actually a very elegant way to treat these particular problems. The surgeon can go in do arthroscopy and then they grab a piece of OCD and they take it out and that usually works works very well. A lot of times after this type will get surgery, they never develop problems now, or there's times a low percentage of the time, they will have some sort of reoccurrence. Or it might turn out that the LCD was too big, the surgeon couldn't remove the whole thing, and then a piece was left and eventually they need to do surgery. Again, many complications could happen, but most of the time, they actually do very well. Removing them too great. Putting the screws on the cyst or the C slide structure do well one of the consequences that they have is that they can develop arthritis. So that's why it's so important to follow up prevent arthritis, we we like to do that with regenerative therapies like we do stem cells or PRP or alpha to M amnion, etc. Some veterinarians just choose to do hyaluronic acid, but anything that you can do to prevent arthritis post surgery. I know that was a lot of information for you, but please visit WWW dot equine arthritis dot info, and you'll learn more about it. And, of course, don't hesitate to ask me any questions. I will gladly get back to you. You have a great day. Welcome to another episode of a threadable