摘要
Cervical spine injuries that impact young horses and foals can result in mild to severe neurological signs or even result in sudden death. There are only a few reports on conservative treatment options for this condition in the scientific literature. If the condition is left untreated, it can lead to the development of degenerative joint disease, resulting in chronic neurological symptoms and discomfort. We present the case of a two-day-old Arabian foal that showed signs of ataxia following a neck injury, being the result of cervical spine subluxation. Radiological examination revealed a dislocation between the second and third cervical vertebrae. At admission to the clinic on the seventh day of life, the foal’s clinical examination parameters were within physiological ranges. The head posture at the presentation was consistently low, the foal could not lift its head above the shoulder joint throughout the whole examination, the neck muscles were spastically tensed and clinical signs of ataxia were present. The foal underwent a closed reduction in the subluxation under general anesthesia and a fiberglass semicircular gutter was created to stabilize the neck in the desired position. The ataxia symptoms began to improve around day 12 post manipulation, and the fiberglass stabilizer was removed after 16 days post manipulation, followed by radiographs. The dislocation of C2/C3 was no longer visible on the radiographs, and the foal was able to assume a normal neck posture after the removal of the fixator.
摘要译文
颈椎损伤会影响幼马和小马驹会导致轻度至重度神经系统症状，甚至导致猝死。在科学文献中，只有少数关于这种情况的保守治疗选择的报告。如果该病情未经治疗，则可能导致退行性关节疾病的发展，从而导致慢性神经系统症状和不适。我们提出了一个为期两天的阿拉伯小马驹的案例，该驹在颈部脊柱半脱位的结果是颈部受伤后的痕迹。放射学检查显示第二和第三颈椎之间存在脱位。在生命的第七天入院时，小马驹的临床检查参数在生理范围内。演示文稿的头部姿势始终较低，小马驹在整个检查过程中无法将其头部抬高到肩部关节上方，颈部肌肉骨紧张，共济失调的临床迹象。小马驹在全身麻醉下进行了半脱位的封闭减少，并产生了玻璃纤维半圆形天沟，以稳定颈部所需的位置。操纵后第12天左右，共济失调症状开始改善，操纵后16天后，将玻璃纤维稳定剂移除，然后进行X光片。C2/C3的脱位不再在X光片上可见，并且驹去除固定器后能够假定正常的颈部姿势。
Natalia Domańska-Kruppa (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5048-876X) [1];Elżbieta Stefanik (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0918-5916) [2];Małgorzata Wierzbicka [3];André Kleinpeter [4];. A Closed Reduction of Cervical Spine Subluxation in an Arabian Foal with an External Neck Stabilizer[J]. Animals, 2025,15(3): 325