A case study on needling technique as a treatment for ocular setariasis in eye of a horse

Abstract

A 2.5 year old male horse was presented to Teaching Veterinary Hospital, VCRI, Namakkal, India with the history of lacrimation, impaired vision and progressive corneal opacity in left eye. Clinical examination revealed movement of a thread like worm in the anterior chamber of the eye. For removal of the worm, affected eye was prepared for surgery by deep sedation with xylazine hydrochloride. Then general anaesthesia was done with Ketamine hydrochloride and maintained by isoflurane. After induction, worm was removed by needling technique. Topical antibiotic and steroid were administered postoperatively to check secondary bacterial infection and corneal opacity. After surgery, the vision was restored and corneal opacity was reduced gradually. Morphologically, the worm was identified as Setaria spp. This is a common case in India due to vector prevalence.

Surgical Management of Equine Ocular Setariosis – Report of Four Cases

“…The pressure created by the aqueous humour towards the needle puncture site will help for the aspiration procedure and through the same method Marzok and Desouky (2009) successfully removed the Setaria equina parasites from donkeys through 10 o' clock position. Needle paracentesis method at 1 o' clock position was also suitable for the retrieval of the worm from the anterior chamber (Rahman et al, 2017). In the present study the parasite was recovered through needle aspiration at 1 -2 o' clock position.…”