It's been fast and furious from day one at Advanced Equine Imaging of Wellington, with over 100 horses in total coming through the clinic for advanced diagnostics since the grand opening in January. After all, for top equestrians with a lame horse, time is of the essence in figuring out what's wrong, and getting back on track for a short but crucial winter season in south Florida.
Diagnosing lameness in horses
The power of standing MRI is that it offers a 90%-plus diagnostic rate, but avoids the very real risk of death from anesthesia, and avoids the stress on the horse's body having to be laid down and anesthetized.
Today's technology can eliminate the usual lengthy hair-pulling stress of a definitive diagnosis, and do so without anesthesia, thus avoiding yet another complication to returning to work immediately. Impatient to have this service available to their own clients, three esteemed veterinarians - Drs. Brendan Furlong, John Steele, Ben Schachter - founded Advanced Equine Imaging of Wellington (AEIW) to provide these services to the surrounding veterinarian community.
Dr. Brendan Furlong said, "Having the standing MRI technology available in Wellington was long overdue, as evidenced by the enthusiastic response from our esteemed colleagues and winter equestrians. We are excited to have brought this technology to south Florida horses, and help them avoid the risks and rigors of lay-down anesthetized scans."
Standing MRI provides diagnoses horses without risky anesthesia
The power of MRI is the clarity and immediacy of diagnosis, over 90% of the time an MRI gives a clear diagnosis after only an initial trot-up. Without the MRI, a trot-up provides a provisional diagnosis and trial treatment plan, which in turns leads to a meager 30% success rate.
The other 70% enter a repeating loop of trot-up, provisional diagnosis, trial treatment, reassess. (A hellish vortex all experienced sporthorse owners have experienced at one time or another.)
The power of standing MRI is that it also offers a 90%-plus diagnostic rate, but avoids the very real risk of death from anesthesia, and in all cases avoids the stress on the horse's body having to be laid down and anesthetized.
With standing MRI, the horse stands comfortably with one foot centered in the scanner, lightly sedated to remain still. With a clear diagnosis, the horse can begin recovery immediately, and be back to work as quickly as possible with peace of mind that the problem has been identified and solved. To date, Hallmarq has been used in over 34,000 standing MRI scans worldwide.
As most experienced horse owners know, lameness is a ground-up issue, with the highest percentage of lamenesses occurring in the foot, with incidences reducing the higher up the leg you go. This makes standing MRI the obvious choice, and the need for anesthesia largely a thing of the past.
"The closer to the ground, the less sway in a standing horse's limb, so hoof images are approaching 100% diagnostics quality, and fetlock images are close to that (98%) with our latest system," explained Dan Brown, a veterinarian and Business Development Director for Hallmarq.
"Regions higher up the leg can also be imaged, but the results will be defined by how still the horse stays under sedation." Dr. Brown concluded, "We are exceptionally pleased to bring this accurate and safe option for MRIs to south Florida, and to be working with the highly regarded veterinarians of Advanced Equine Imaging of Wellington."
For more information about Advanced Equine Imaging of Wellington or call (561) 790-0001.
For more information about Hallmarq standing MRIs, including finding the one nearest you, or call (978) 266-1219.
About Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging
As the sole global manufacturer of MRI systems for the standing sedated equine and with over 34,000 anesthesia-free exams on record, Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging is the pioneer of safer MRI diagnostics. The team behind its development have decades of experience in the design and manufacture of clinical, research and industrial MRI systems for a range of applications globally. From its beginnings over 10 years ago, Hallmarq's mission has been to make equine MRI safe, accurate and cost effective for horse owners, and affordable and profitable to key equine veterinary clinics worldwide.
About Advanced Equine Imaging of Wellington
Located in the heart of winter horse country, Advanced Equine Imaging of Wellington joins sister clinic Equine MRI of New Jersey, also founded by Dr. Furlong and managed by Dr. Sarah Gold. AEIW currently features Hallmarq Standing MRI technology, as well as nuclear scintigraphy, operating as a referral diagnostic center for area equine veterinarians.
Manager Dr. Sarah Gold joined the staff of B.W. Furlong and Associates in 2005 upon completion of her internship as an ambulatory practitioner, with a special interest in regenerative medicine (stem cell, PRP), lameness, and diagnostic imaging. In 2006 she became manager of Equine MRI of NJ in Oldwick which performed an average of 150 standing MRI scans per year; in late 2012 she accepted the challenge to lead the new AEIW diagnostic center in south Florida.
Dr. Gold also has served as assistant team veterinarian to the United States Eventing Team in the 2008 Hong Kong Olympics, 2010 World Equestrian Games, 2012 London Olympic Games and various other elite competitions both in the USA and internationally.