Head Position Impacts Kissing Spines Evaluation (AAEP 2012)

How a horse stands during X rays might influence how vets interpret images when diagnosing kissing spines.
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A horse’s head and neck position during radiographs might influence how veterinarians interpret the images when diagnosing spinous process impingements.

This painful equine back condition is commonly called “kissing spines,” a term that describes how adjacent vertebrae of affected horses touch or rub against each other. Veterinarians rely on radiographs to help diagnose this condition, but since horses hold their heads at different heights, depending on their conformation and whether they’re alert, calm, or sedated, a research team wondered whether this variability could impact diagnostic accuracy.

Dagmar Berner, DVM, a resident in the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging program at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Leipzig, in Germany, and her colleagues examined how such head and neck positions impacted distances between thoracic vertebrae (which begin at the point of the shoulder and continue to where the last rib attaches to the vertebral column). She presented the team’s results at the 2012 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Dec. 1-5 in Anaheim, Calif.

The team hypothesized that low or high neck positions would increase or decrease intervertebral distances, complicating kissing spine diagnosis

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Erica Larson, former news editor for The Horse, holds a degree in journalism with an external specialty in equine science from Michigan State University in East Lansing. A Massachusetts native, she grew up in the saddle and has dabbled in a variety of disciplines including foxhunting, saddle seat, and mounted games. Currently, Erica competes in eventing with her OTTB, Dorado.

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