Standing repair of an articular dorsal medial oblique fracture of the proximal third metacarpal bone in a racing Standardbred

Abstract

Summary The third metacarpal bone (McIII) is a common site of long bone fractures in racehorses. However, articular fractures of the dorsomedial aspect of McIII are a rare location of such injuries. This report describes the successful standing surgical repair of an articular fracture of the dorso‐medial proximal McIII in a 4‐year‐old Standardbred racing mare using lag screw fixation.

Is general anaesthesia avoidable for limb fracture repair in horses?

“…The temperament of the horse is paramount as it is imperative that the horse stands square and remains still throughout the duration of surgery (Compston & Payne, 2013;Lean & Ahern, 2020).…”

“…Aßmann and colleagues utilised a combination of detomidine and morphine to provide sedation and analgesia in their case, the use of which is supported by other authors for standing surgery (Cillán‐García et al, 2020). Morphine was substituted for butorphanol by other authors (Jimenez‐Rihuete & O'Meara, 2022; Lean & Ahern, 2020; Russell & Maclean, 2006), but the analgesia afforded by butorphanol is short‐lived and has been shown to be inadequate for post‐castration analgesia (Love et al, 2009) and inferior to morphine in experimentally induced synovitis (Carregaro et al, 2014). Systematic review concluded that butorphanol has poor analgesic effects at doses used in clinical practice (Bowen et al, 2020).…”

“…The temperament of the horse is paramount as it is imperative that the horse stands square and remains still throughout the duration of surgery (Compston & Payne, 2013; Lean & Ahern, 2020). The mare in the current case reported was considered to be ‘an excellent candidate for a standing procedure’, however, in some cases despite ideal preparation, some horses are just not amenable to standing procedures.…”