Treating Equine Canker with Topical Cisplatin Chemotherapy

Topical cisplatin chemotherapy yielded promising results for treating canker in a small trial.
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Editor’s Note: This article is part of TheHorse.com’s ongoing coverage of topics presented at the British Equine Veterinary Association’s 51st annual Congress, held Sept. 12-15 in Birmingham, U.K.

Canker, a destructive inflammatory disease of the hoof that generally originates in the frog, has always frustrated treating veterinarians. Typical treatments include superficial debridement, topical therapies such as the antimicrobial drug metronidazole, and good hygiene. However, because canker tends to recur, Veronika Apprich, DVM, from the Large Animal Surgery and Orthopedics department at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, and colleagues evaluated a new treatment method aimed at reducing hospitalization time and recurrence rate in affected horses. They presented their findings at the British Equine Veterinary Association’s 51st annual Congress, held Sept. 12-15 in Birmingham, UK.

Although canker’s etiology is still not clear, Apprich cites a recently published study (Brandt 2010) describing certain similarities between canker and equine sarcoids. In this study 25 horses diagnosed with canker also tested positive for bovine papillomavirus DNA, which can lead to sarcoid development. Based on these results, Apprich proposed a new and promising therapy option for canker: the common sarcoid treatment topical cisplatin chemotherapy.

To evaluate its effectiveness, Apprich treated three horses hospitalized at her clinic for canker first with surgical debridement of the canker tissue, then with the cisplatin chemotherapy two to three days later. She and colleagues continued to administer this topical treatment 10 times per day, every other day, until the surgical wounds were superficially keratinized (the outer, horny layer of the skin forms). In one horse the surgeon had to resect a small amount of recurring canker tissue after the fifth cisplatin administration. All three horses were discharged within two weeks after chemotherapy concluded

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Alexandra Beckstett, a native of Houston, Texas, is a lifelong horse owner who has shown successfully on the national hunter/jumper circuit and dabbled in hunter breeding. After graduating from Duke University, she joined Blood-Horse Publications as assistant editor of its book division, Eclipse Press, before joining The Horse. She was the managing editor of The Horse for nearly 14 years and is now editorial director of EquiManagement and My New Horse, sister publications of The Horse.

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