The Inflammatory Cascade

Equine pharmaceutical companies are developing new drugs every year that have the ability to reduce inflammation and pain associated with various horse injuries.
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Equine pharmaceutical companies are developing new drugs every year that have the ability to reduce inflammation and pain associated with various horse injuries. When people hear of inflammation, the first thought that usually pops into their heads is pain and tissue damage at the site of injury. Before you can start treating inflammation, you need to know what it is, understand the process behind it, and determine whether or not it is harmful (and it isn't in all cases).

The medical term inflammation originated hundreds of years ago in the history of medicine, and literally means "burning." A Roman named Cornelius Celsus in the first Century A.D. described the characteristics of inflammation (which are still being used today)–heat, redness, swelling, and pain. Inflammation is the response of tissues to irritation or injury. Cornelius was actually describing the reactions of living tissues to local injuries and the subsequent changes in blood vessels.

Why Does It Occur?

Inflammation is one of the most important and vital protective mechanisms in the body. An inadequate inflammatory response, as seen in AIDS patients, is life-threatening and eventually could be fatal. Inflammation allows defense factors, such as antibodies and white blood cells, to gain access to sites of bacterial invasion or tissue damage. The inflammatory process is a union of the responses that constitute healing and repair

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Written by:

Nathan M. Slovis DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, CHT, received his DVM from Purdue University. He is board certified in large animal internal medicine and he is currently the Director of the McGee Medical Center at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Ky. His special interests are in neonatology, infectious diseases, and hyperbaric medicine (in which he is certfied as a hyperbaric technologist).

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