BONE-SCINTIGRAPHY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF SACROILIAC INJURY IN 12 HORSES

Nuclear bone scintigraphy was used to diagnose sacroiliac injury in 12 horses presented for nonspecific rear limb lameness. The most common history was decreased performance and/or a mild chronic rear limb lame ness which could not be localised by routine lameness examination. The scintigraphic patterns of the 12 affected horses were compared to 5 n ormal horses and 10 horses with lameness not related to the pelvic reg ion. Subjective and quantitative evaluation of the bone scans clearly separated the 12 affected horses from the 5 normal horses and the 10 h orses with lameness from causes other than the sacroiliac joint diseas e. The 12 affected horses had a scintigraphic pattern of moderate to m arked increased uptake of the radiopharmaceutical within the sacroilia c joint region on the side of lameness. In contrast, the 5 normal hors es and 10 horses scanned for other causes of lameness, had a symmetric , or only slightly asymmetric pattern of radioisotope uptake. Although nonspecific for the type of injury, nuclear bone scintigraphy is cons idered sensitive for the detection of sacroiliac injuries in horses.