In search of the laminitic pathway
The disease holds many mysteries, but treatment options are available to thwart chronic onset
Dec 01, 2005
Regardless of the origin of the initial insult, including gastrointestinal (GI), carbohydrate or grain overload, excessive early-spring grass intake, toxins from black walnut shavings, colitis, metritis, placental retention, at-risk Cushing's horse or from pounding the pavement, the end result is acute disease.
The final common pathway is thought to be one of mediation of extreme inflammation within the hoof capsule that eventually severely damages the laminar tissue leading to detachment of the coffin bone. But whether inflammation or possibly ischemia, the final common pathway is still unidentified at this time, according to David Hood, DVM, PhD, Texas A&M University. It would be of interest to know how the triggers promote the inflammatory mediators and how the disease can be prevented.
Why? Theoretical response
Countless ponies, pleasure horses and other performances horses have been affected by laminitis. Why do some get it? Why do some survive? The complete picture isn't clear.
"You're limited in what you can do to treat the initial cause because we don't have a clue of what triggers this thing," says Ric Redden, DVM, farrier, International Equine Podiatry Center in Versailles, Ky. "We have a lot things that are primary that will precipitate the syndrome, but we don't know the linkage of how they do it."
Presently, the best tactic is to try to recognize the disease as early as possible and prevent it from advancing, says James Orsini, DVM, University of Pennsylvania.
"We know during the developmental phase of the disease we can prevent the progression to the acute phase by using an old technique of icing the feet; standing the horse in a cold stream," Orsini says. "The other important goal is to identify risk factors. We can then identify the at-risk patient and spend more time monitoring for the disease or even better, prophylactically icing the feet and more aggressively using anti-inflammatories to prevent the disease from progressing to the acute stage and then the chronic phase."
The chronic stage is the most devastating because once rotation begins, the foot is unstable, and a more difficult clinical situation arises relative to day-to-day care and expense, frequently ending in humane destruction.