Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Horses with colic showing muscle damage - what to know
By Valentine, B A & Löhr, C VĀ·Published in The Veterinary recordĀ·2007Ā·Department of Biomedical Sciences, United StatesĀ·View original on PubMed ā
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Original publication title: Myonecrosis in three horses with colic: evidence for endotoxic injury.
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
Three horses that had colic (abdominal pain) were examined after they passed away. They showed signs of serious blood poisoning and had high levels of certain enzymes in their blood, which can indicate muscle damage. Upon examination, they were found to have severe inflammation of the intestines, ulcers in the stomach, and blockages in the intestines caused by sand and hardened stool. There was no visible or microscopic evidence of direct muscle injury, but their muscle tissue showed signs of damage likely caused by toxins in the blood. Unfortunately, the treatment did not work for these horses.
Abstract
Three horses with colic, clinical evidence of endotoxaemia and high serum activities of creatine kinase and aspartate aminotransferase were examined postmortem. The horses were diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis, pyloric ulceration and stenosis with colonic sand impaction, and colonic obstruction due to faecaliths. There was no gross or histological evidence of muscle trauma. Their semimembranosus muscles had scattered acute to subacute segmental necrosis of the myofibres, suggestive of endotoxin-induced muscle injury.
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Search related cases āOriginal publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18065814/