AbstractsMedical & Health Science

Distal forelimb lameness is very common in horses around the world. The crucial part of a lameness examination is to localize the source of the pain. A practical and objective forelimb lameness evaluating tool without bias is needed to support clinical research study. Using a body-mounted inertial sensor system-based method in this clinical research study had two purposes: (1) to objectively assess the effect of different techniques of diagnostic anesthesia used in the feet of horses with forelimb lameness and (2) to compare these findings with the subjective assessment of veterinarians with different levels of experience. A total of fifty-four horses with forelimb lameness were presented to the Equine Clinic, Free University Berlin, between March 2012 and June 2013. Complete standard lameness evaluations were performed for all horses; trotting the horse in a straight line was the method used for data collection. Owner permission for collection of body-mounted inertial data, video recording, and for its use in this study was obtained for every case. This clinical study was divided into two projects. The first project was Use of body-mounted inertial sensors to objectively evaluate the response to perineural analgesia of the distal limb and intra-articular analgesia of the distal interphalangeal joint in horses with forelimb lameness. It was published in Journal Equine Veterinary Science, 34 (2014) 972-977. There were six co-authors, of which was Porrakote Rungsri was the primary author. Twenty-two horses (12 Warmbloods, 3 Standardbred Trotters, 3 Ponies, 1 Thoroughbred, 1 Friesian, 1 Fjord and 1 mixed Arabian) aged between 4-25 years old (mean = 14) were selected for the first project as follows: Each had (1) lameness in a forelimb when trotted on a straight line on a hard surface on both day 1 and day 2 of the study and (2) positive response to perineural analgesia of the foot. The Horses were divided into two groups. Horses with definitive decrease in lameness after only the PD block were designated as group 1. Horses with definitive decrease in lameness after only the AS block (after failure of the PD block to decrease lameness) were designated as group 2. Amplitude of lameness improvement after blocking was determined as a percentage decrease in VS from the baseline (before block) evaluation. Improvement in lameness after blocking was examined using the Friedman’s test with the percentage of improvement (dependent variable) and the blocking procedure (independent variable) (i.e. PD, AS, DIP2, DIP5, and DIP10). The second project was Agreement between a body-mounted inertial sensors system and subjective observational analysis when evaluating lameness degree and diagnostic analgesia response in horses with forelimb lameness. It was published in Pferdeheilkunde, 30 (2014) 644-650. There were seven co-authors, of which was Porrakote Rungsri was also the primary authors. In the project study, 24 horses (12 Warmbloods, 5 Standardbred Trotters, 5 Ponies, 1 Thoroughbred, and 1 Appaloosa) aged between 4-24 years old…