Any experiences with laser surgery on over grown corpora nigra?

[flyracing]

I have had a full exam done on my horse’s eye by a specialist and the conclusion was the new spooking (that has lasted 2 years and only outside on sunny days) is caused by the corpora nigra blocking his vision, leaving two small “pupils” on each side of the c. nigra. This is affecting his jumping career. If only I could make it rain at every show!

So does anyone have any experience with the laser surgery to deflate the “cysts”. If so, where was it done and what did it cost?

Has any one come up with other solutions to this problem?

[pintopiaffe]

I asked the same thing in the fall with no response. My stallion has cystic corpora nigra.

He’s right on the cusp of being too old to be a surgical candidate… for now, I’m just trying to find more info. There is very little.

I’m still trying to find out if it’s genetic–because he’ll get the big snip if it is, even at his age!

[DVM2003]

I have sent a few clients for this proceedure - We usually have them go to NC State because it is close and their ophtho service is top notch. I think the cost was around $1000-$1500 for both eyes, but don’t quote me on that:)

It’s performed under standing sedation with a laser - typically they will keep the horse overnight to make sure no problems post op. I think complications are fairly rare. If I find cystic corpra nigra on an exam, I tell people if the horse is spooky I’d have them lasered, if they’re causing no problem I’d leave them alone.

It’s a fairly quick deal - I have seen some lasered that don’t “deflate” as well as others - not sure why.

[Green_Acres]

What a timely thread for me!!! My TB was diagosed this week with corpora nigra cysts in both eyes. My vet contacted UGA vet school and they can do the procedure there. The cost for the laser surgery is $1000-1200. But UGA wants him to stay there for 3-7 days afterwards which will be approximately $1500 if there are no complications.

My vet is trying to locate another opthamologists in the Atlanta area to if someone else can perform the surgery and then we do the aftercare at my trainer’s barn.

My horse started acting very spooky in the last 3 months and also freaking out when tied up which is why I had the vet look at him.

My horse is also a headshaker and there is potentially a connection with the cysts and headshaking. My vet has read 10-12 cases studies of headshakers who had the cysts deflated with 100% success of curing the headshaking.

I had PM’d someone here on COTH who had her horse done a few years ago in Canada and it cost her $1300 CDN. Her horse is back to normal, no spooking or refusals now.

Flyracing - where are you located?

[flyracing]

Oklahoma. Either OSU (90 minutes away) or a local prival clinic can perform the surgery. It would be done by the same ophthalmologist, but I have not yet contacted either for specifics such as price and stay requirement. I wanted to see if anyone else has had an experience with this.

[Green_Acres]

@DVM2003;4636747

I have sent a few clients for this proceedure - We usually have them go to NC State because it is close and their ophtho service is top notch. I think the cost was around $1000-$1500 for both eyes, but don’t quote me on that:)

It’s performed under standing sedation with a laser - typically they will keep the horse overnight to make sure no problems post op. I think complications are fairly rare. If I find cystic corpra nigra on an exam, I tell people if the horse is spooky I’d have them lasered, if they’re causing no problem I’d leave them alone.

It’s a fairly quick deal - I have seen some lasered that don’t “deflate” as well as others - not sure why.

Did the horses you had sent to NC State need more than one laser treatment to ‘deflate’ the cysts? Do you know if those horses stopped being spooky and return to their ‘normal’ personalities?

I am a little concerned why UGA wants to keep the horse there so much longer than NC State. Could that mean UGA hasn’t performed the surgery much?..

[Green_Acres]

@flyracing;4637108

Oklahoma. Either OSU (90 minutes away) or a local prival clinic can perform the surgery. It would be done by the same ophthalmologist, but I have not yet contacted either for specifics such as price and stay requirement. I wanted to see if anyone else has had an experience with this.

If you find out the details with OSU, I would be interested to hear their stay requirement.

[DVM2003]

The horse that I sent recently I think is less spooky, but it’s hard to tell. At this point she’s not really back in “work”. The owners had her in pro training, but once the cystic corpra nigra were found, they stopped since we had a potential medical cause for the spookyness. I’ll call the owner tomorrow and see what she thinks.

As far as length of hospital stay, it may just depend on the vet. We send lots of stuff to the ophtho dept at NC state, so they were very comfortable with me doing a recheck at about 1 week post op. I would just ask them why she needs to stay that long. They do prescribe ointment to be put in the eye post op, and they may have had bad experiences with owners being able to put it in.

As far as the relm of dificulty of what your average vet ophthalmologist does on a daily basis, lasering these cysts is probably pretty simple compared to a lot of other surgery they do.

[pintopiaffe]

If anyone is having a conversation with a vet about this, could you ask if they know if it’s genetic or not?

I’ve gotten no answers to my inquiries…

[flyracing]

I have been told they can be genetic, but it is difficult to know without examining the line of horses. My horse is a gelding so I am not in the same situation as you, but if a stallion I wanted to breed to had them and the mare did not, it would not change my mind on breeding to the stallion.

[MaybeMorgan]

Equus had an article about this, I think last year.

[Green_Acres]

N.C. State

Well I have scheduled to have my horse’s laser surgery at N.C. State on Feb. 11-12th. The evaluation will be on Thursday, Feb. 11th and if all goes well, the laser surgery will be done on Friday the 12th. It’s possible my horse will be released later on Friday to bring him home.

It’s a haul for me to take him there (7 hours) but my vet did some research and spoke to local opthamologists who referred us to N.C. State.

My fingers are crossed it goes well and helps him!!!

[SuckerForHorses]

I know this is an old thread, but can you update please?

other than laser surgery, are there any other treatment options?

[hj0519]

Not the OP, but as far as I know, the only treatment option for corpora nigra cysts is the laser surgery. My horse had it done on both eyes last year and the only option presented to me at the time was laser surgery.

They weren’t able to deflate all of them in one of his eyes (his were rather large/numerous) but they don’t seem to be affecting his vision. So far they haven’t come back and (knock on wood) he’s doing great (at least when it comes to his eyes!).

[Minxitbabe]

Ancient post but I wanted to bump it to see if anyone has any more recent pricing and experience? Looks like my mare is going to need the lasering done sooner rather than later. Hopeful it may help with the “random” tensing/spooking we have never been able to really work through.

[Ponylady27]

@Minxitbabe I’m having my mare’s eyes done at UC Davis next week and I can fill you in after if you’re still interested.

[EmilyM]

I had it done at UF in gainesville. Originally he was supposed to stay overnight but they were able to do it when I got there and I was out the door with meds for less than $1k. No issues following.

[vxf111]

Calling NB to get a new quote now. When I last had this done in 2018 it was $1600ish

[ltw]

Bumping this up. Horse has had Corpora Nigra cyst over Iris since before 2018. Previous owner had Opthamologist examine then, and Vet said laser was an option. Horse was spooky, hence, why vet called in first place. It was revealed to me on purchase along with all vet records. Yes, horse was spooky but I had alot of experience in addressing this with building trust and ensuring all maintenance was done to address pain anywhere else. The spooking has escalated in last several months. I called in original vet who saw him befor to do dental work and I showed him videos of his spook bolt action with me on him. He suggested that this Corpora Nigra cyst be re-addressed with Opthamologist specialist as he could see it was covering half of his pupil. And he could see I had treated all other possible avenues. He also told me that this would manifest more dramatically on sunny days, and when I showed him the bolt spook video we both could see this was in a shady corner of the ring going out into the sunlight with shadows casted on the arena footing. Thanks very much for all these posts. I did some other research and found a good study that captured the success rate on the laser surgery.
" Outcomes Following Transcorneal Diode Laser Ablation of Uveal Cysts: 48 Horses (2006-2020)

Kimberly Lam 1, Stephanie A Pumphrey 2

Affiliations expand

• PMID: 34119192
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jevs.2021.103640

Abstract

Uveal cysts can lead to undesirable behaviors and poor performance in horses. Transcorneal laser ablation has been proposed as a safe and effective treatment for uveal cysts suspected of causing behavioral changes but outcomes have been reported in only a small number of horses. In this retrospective study, records were identified for horses who had undergone transcorneal cyst ablation using a diode laser. Information was collected regarding signalment, behavioral or performance issues reported prior to the procedure, and complications. Owners were contacted to provide follow-up information regarding resolution of behavioral issues. Seventy eyes from 48 horses were treated. Undesirable behaviors or performance issues were reported prior to the procedure in 35 horses, and follow-up information was provided for 22 of those horses. Of these 22 horses, 59% of owners reported significant improvements in behavior or performance, 27% reported some improvement, and 14% reported no improvement. No significant complications were reported in association with the procedure. Although follow-up data were available for only a subset of horses, transcorneal diode laser ablation was an effective means of resolving owner-reported behavioral or performance complaints believed to be caused by uveal cysts for many of the horses in this group. Further work is needed to assess effects of uveal cysts on equine behavior and to characterize effects of transcorneal diode laser ablation prospectively.

Keywords: Behavior; Corpora nigra; Cyst; Equine; Laser; Ophthalmology."

[skip99]

Following this thread, what symptoms besides generally spookiness have been noticed and improved by the surgery? Does anyone have pictures before surgery?