EVALUATION OF THE VARIABLY OSSIFIED COLLATERAL CARTILAGES OF THE DISTAL PHALANX AND ADJACENT ANATOMIC STRUCTURES IN THE FINNHORSE WITH COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY AND MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING

Six Finnhorse cadaver forefeet were selected to represent radiographic ally different types and grades of ossification of the collateral cart ilages of the distal phalanx, These cartilages and adjacent tissues we re evaluated with computed tomography (CT) and high field magnetic res onance imaging (MRI), In CT the internal structure of the cartilages w as consistent, but in MRI some differences were noted, The shape of th e collateral cartilages and their ligamentous attachments varied, The border between ossified and non-ossified cartilage appeared distinct, with considerable variation in the extent of the ossified area in rega rd to the cross-sectional area of the cartilage, Ossification originat ing from the palmar processes and extending in the proximal/palmaropro ximal direction, without separate centers of ossification, generally a ppeared smooth and inactive, Palmar ossification followed the irregula r shape of the cartilage, Separate centers of ossification had a medul lary cavity or were sclerotic, Presence of a medullary cavity or scler osis were also found at the base of the cartilages, The incomplete fus ion lines between separate centres of ossification and the ossified ba se of the cartilage varied from congruent and inactive to reactive wit h marked sclerosis, flared margins and parachondral changes, Incomplet e fusion may be clinically significant, Local conformational adaptatio ns of the hoof were also documented,pith extensive ossification of the collateral cartilage.