Ophthalmologists from the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine successfully completed the most extensive resections and corneal transplants ever documented in a horse.
Horse's teary eye indicating an infection.
An injury to a show-jumping horse's eye led to a corneal infection that posed a significant threat to her eye, but skilled ophthalmologists using a ground breaking procedure.
© 2017 by Miheo New window.
This groundbreaking procedure involved replacing approximately 60% of the right cornea of a show-jumping Dutch warmblood horse named Myra.
Michelle Carnes, MS, DVM, DACVIM (Neurology), veterinary neurosurgeon, and her husband acquired Myra in the Netherlands last fall. Myra developed an eye injury during her relocation from the Netherlands to the United States, unknown to her owners as to how she got the injury.
Eventually, the injury led to a corneal infection exacerbated by a fungus that posed a significant threat to her eye. As Myra's infection progressed, Carnes sought out help from ophthalmologists across the East Coast and ultimately chose the NC State Veterinary Hospital team. “If anybody was going to be able to save Myra’s eye, it was the NC State team,” Carnes stated in the NC State news release.
However, before the show horse came to NC State, she was first seen at the University of Georgia’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, which is closer to her farm in Tryon, North Carolina, and Myra was diagnosed with a treatment-resistant stromal abscess.
“That, as a horse owner, is a devastating diagnosis, because you know that condition can go south really, really fast,” Carnes said.
Brian C. Gilger, DVM, MS, DACVO, professor of ophthalmology and Michala Henriksen, DVM, PhD, associate professor of ophthalmology took on Myra’s case at the NC State Hospital.
The innovative approach NC State took included the application of platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) proteins onto Myra's eye to promote healing.1 The university’s unique research in exploring PRF use for veterinary ocular surgery and the facility’s ultra-high-frequency ultrasound gave Myra the best chance at recovery. NC State is one of few universities nationwide with this advanced ultrasonic device, which lets ophthalmologists see deeper into the eye in more detail than traditional scans allow.
“This ultra-high-frequency ultrasound really transforms how we’re managing these horses’ eyes, because we can see so much better where the disease really is,” Gilger explained. “It allows us to see through tissues that are white or opaque and examine underlying structures, something we cannot do with the usual ophthalmic instruments.”
“Generally, if abscesses are greater than a centimeter in diameter, we know that there’s a very low chance of actually saving the eye, even after surgery. Myra’s measured about 1.4 to 1.6 centimeters,” Gilger continued.
To start Myra’s treatment, the ophthalmologist team decided to try antifungal and anti-inflammatory treatments, including luliconazole, a medication that Gilger professionally researches for its use in horses.1,2 This treatment worked at first, and Myra was discharged. Unfortunately, after taking another look at the horse’s imaging, it showed Myra’s abscess resisting treatment and breaking into the anterior chamber of the eye. Myra was quickly scheduled for a surgical resection and corneal transplant.
Read the complete article about Myra's treatment and how the ophthalmologist team saved the horse's eye by clicking HERE .
Press release by DVM360