Bone marrow oedema like lesions (BMELLs) are described in both human athletes and sport horses. Most commonly runners and track and field athletes are affected. BMELLs are described in young military recruits at the beginning of their training, too. While all kinds of sport horses are affected, BMELLs are described most commonly in racehorses. Like in humans the bones of the distal limb are affected the most. BMELLs in the horse are described for the navicular bone, the middle phalanx and the metacarpal and metatarsal bone. The diagnosis is based on scintigraphical and MRI findings. In humans, the treatment depends on the severity of clinical, radiological and MR findings. Rest and reduced training is part of every treatment regime. Surgical treatment like bone drilling is described for severe cases. A correlation between BMELLs and osteoarthritis is discussed. This article describes a young dressage horse with a non-weight bearing lameness of sudden onset. Because clinical and radiological findings did not explain the lameness conclusively the horse underwent low field MR imaging (0,27T). On STIR images in sagittal and frontal planes a hyperintense focus with a hypointense rim was seen in the bone marrow in the dorsomedial part of the second phalanx. A corresponding hypointense focus was seen on T2*-weighted gradient echo sequences. On T2-weighted spin echo sequences the bone marrow appeared normal. The horse was treated with a Robert Jones bandage, NSAIDs for 14 days, disodium clodronate for ten days and box rest over a period of eight weeks. After that, the horse was walked at hand for four weeks. Fourteen weeks after the sudden onset of the lameness the horse was sound and started light dressage work.

Subchondral bone cyst in the sulcus intertrochlearis tali -Diagnostics and therapySubchondrale bone cysts are a rare cause of lameness in the horse. In the present case report, a severe lameness of the right hind leg appeared in a ten-year-old Arabian gelding. Consequently, due to a septic arthritis of the talocrural joint and an aseptic arthritis of all three compartments of the right knee, the horse had been treated twice in two months. Six weeks after this treatment, medium-grade, aseptic arthritis of the right stifle joint was diagnosed. This was treated with triamcinolone acetonide and hyaluronic acid. The horse was then released with a movement plan and oral pain medication. Ten days after the treatment of the right stifle joint, the horse again showed a severe lameness of the right hind leg. On the side and on the dorsomedial-lateroplantar and dorsoplantar radiograph of the tarsus, a well demarcated, round, radiolucent area of approximately one centimetre in diameter with a radiolucent centre was found in the proximal talus. On the basis of the clinical, radiographic and scintigraphic findings collected, a suspected subchondral bone cyst in the sulcus intertrochlearis was diagnosed and a diagnostic-therapeutic arthroscopy of the tarsal joint was carried out. After three weeks of box rest, a step program was started which was conducted over a period of two months. About three months after the operation, the horse was no longer lame, could trot and be used again..