Retrospective study of palmar/plantar annular ligament injury in 71 horses: 2001–2006

Abstract

PAL injury is characterised by a convex contour of the palmar/plantar aspect of the fetlock, associated with thickening of the ligament with or without subcutaneous fibrosis. Bilateral PAL thickening is common in older horses, ponies and cobs; however, bilateral PAL enlargement is often present with only unilateral lameness. Treatment methods used in this study did not appear to influence outcome significantly.

Palmar annular ligament desmitis in horses: retrospective study between desmotomy and desmectomy techniques

“…The palmar annular ligament desmitis (PALD) may be conservative or surgical, depending on the thickness of the PAL, and the level of local inflammation [2,10,11]. According with Thomassian [13], the PAL can be classified as normal, slightly thickened and thickened, corresponding to values of 0.1 to 0.5 cm, 0.5 to 0.8 cm and greather than 0.8 cm, respectively.…”

“…As a consequence of the injury, it is possible to occur the distension of the flexor tendons sheath and the indirect volume increase of the tendons. Concomitantly, the PAL, that do not adapt somewhat to pathological changes, compresses the tendons and adjacent structures, which creates a restriction of movement and eventually can develop a local inflammatory reaction [9,11,15].…”

“…The diagnosis is based on the clinical history, clinical presentation and on ancilliary tests, such as ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging [4,5,11]. The palmar annular ligament desmitis (PALD) may be conservative or surgical, depending on the thickness of the PAL, and the level of local inflammation [2,10,11].…”

“…Furthermore, there is also a possibility of adhesion between the tendon and the PAL, during the patient treatment [1,8,11,12]. Even in some animals, without apparent tendinitis, the incarceration of the superficial digital flexor tendon by the PAL is disclosed, associated with the tendon healing process, where the increased diameter of the SDFT is diagnosed by ultrasonograhy [6].…”

“…The surgical treatment consists in PAL sky closed desmotomy, according to the technique described by Turner & McIlwraith [14], or by tenoscopy [3,7,11]. A modified Turner & McIlwraith [14] technique, by Escodro [6], combines the PAL strip removal, termed palmar annular ligament desmectomy.…”