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Discussion on Growth Plate Injury
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Posted on Wednesday, Aug 21, 2002 - 4:15 pm:
I was recently given a 3 mo. old filly. I was told she had a 75% chance of being lame due to an injury to her left fetlock and right knee. I was told the bones weren't broken just chipped. I took her to my vet and he x-rayed it and didn't see any chips, but did say the enlargement of these joints was caused by a problem with the growth plates. If I understood him correctly, he felt the problem was probably from an infection that has calcified around the growth plates. He said the bone could grow unevenly and cause her legs to bow. I am to watch for an uneven growth and take her back in 3 months for x-rays. I asked if there was anything I could give her and/or rub on her to make it better and he said not really. He said if it starts to grow crooked we could do surgery to chip some off. If anyone knows of something I could do to help her grow properly, please share with me. From everything I have read up on, her condition sounds like Epiphysistis. Thanks for any help.
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Posted on Thursday, Aug 22, 2002 - 7:16 am:
Hello Dolores,
Not knowing which bones are involved nor being able to examine the lesions on the radiographs I am unable to recommend much. Assuming the legs begin to grow crooked (this might be hard to predict from just the radiographs) because the growth plates are damaged the only treatment that comes to mind is to inhibit the growth on the healthy side of the leg with a transphyseal staple.
In the meantime review the article on physitis and see if anything in there looks familiar. There can be many causes of this and treatment will depend on cause.
DrO
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