Rood & Riddle condylar fracture study

[mommy_peanut]

I searched to see if this had already been shared & didn’t find anything…

“Fascinating new research on racehorse fracture repair! A study spanning 2000-2020 followed 150 Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses treated for medial condylar fractures at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, Lexington, KY, through their rehabilitation and return to racing.

Medial condylar fractures were previously thought to have a guarded prognosis for complete recovery, but the treated racehorses had an excellent prognosis for short-term and long-term survival and favorable prognosis for returning to racing without loss of ability following internal fixation.

This retrospective study by Bianca D. Ruspi DVM, Larry R. Bramlage DVM, MS, DACVS, Alan J. Ruggles DVM, DACVS, and Stacey A. Slone MS highlights the success of surgical fixation, low complication rate, and demonstrates that horses can return to their previous performance levels.

The following images show examples of medial condylar fractures, post-surgery radiographs, as well as footage from a CT scan of the injury. “

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FEYMWW29y/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/393417754_Short-_and_long-term_survival_complications_return_to_racing_and_racing_performance_of_150_racehorses_with_medial_condylar_fractures_of_the_third_metacarpalmetatarsal_bone_treated_by_internal_fixation

[Simkie]

Neat! Thank you for sharing. The CT view is really cool, wow!

[Laurierace]

That was not my experience. I had many come back to race but they all were at a lower level of competition than before the injury to the point I stopped trying to bring them back to the races. Happy to hear that isn’t the norm

[beowulf]

It’s nice to see a study to support what many vets and rehabbers have been saying for years. When I volunteered for CANTER, it was hard to place the horses with condylar fractures despite vets saying they would have unlimited potential in a new riding discipline. These injuries typically only happen at speeds most non-racing work wouldn’t come close to touching, but many prospective adopters balked at seeing how much jewelry was in the leg. My experience with seeing them return to racing matches Laurierace’s though, most connections opted to retire.

[Texarkana]

My experience is getting to be quite dated these days, but I’d take a repaired condylar fracture over something like a sesamoid or some types of slab fractures.