French veterinarian Knut Nottrott and his colleagues wanted to develop a novel technique for injecting the navicular bursa that avoided penetrating the deep digital flexor tendon. They researched using a lateral approach to injecting the navicular bursa under ultrasonographic guidance. It avoids the need for radiographs.
Source: Modern Equine Vet, April 2017, page 3.
The study has limitations, the researchers said, because the limbs were healthy. “It is unknown whether injection results obtained in the limbs of horses without disease can be extrapolated to horses with clinical disease of the podotrochlear apparatus,” they wrote. “The localization of contrast medium on radiographs may not accurately reflect the behavior of local anesthetic solution or therapeutic medications injected in the navicular bursa.”
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