A 4 year old thoroughbred stallion was used for steeple jumping He struck one of the jumps with his right knee and was immediately lame. Radiographs were made of the affected knee. A lame 4 year old with a routine 5 views of the carpus Radiographic diagnosis
- A fracture of the right radius extended into the radiocarpal joint laterally with severe injury to both bone and articular surface
- Surgery was performed with an incomplete reduction of the fractures - a secondary infection complicated the healing - the horse was discharged lame 11 days after the injury -
A lame 4 year old Comments concerning the soft tissue opacification
- A pattern of soft tissue calcification is not expected with an acute trauma patient -
- A pattern of periosteal new bone is not expected immediately post trauma and the pattern in this horse is not attached to the underlying periosteum -
- Use of an iodine solution on the skin can give this type of indistinct linear radiographic shadows -
- Soft tissue calcification can appear following injections of steroids but this should not be immediately following injection -
- What ever the cause, the pattern of calcification was not seen on subsequent pre-op studies after the radiographs shown earlier in this presentation and were not seen on the post-op studies -
