The fifth week of my internship was a very busy one. The clinic wasn’t as busy as usual, but there was a lot of work to be done regarding the research I am doing. On Monday, I was able to observe a bilateral ovariectomy of a mare with behavioral issues. In hopes of correcting these behavior issues, both ovaries were removed in a laparoscopic standing surgery. A triangle incision pattern was made on both sides, and instruments were placed. From here, the ovaries were visualized and then strategically dissected out. This is where the surgery became complex because you have to be extremely careful not to damage the uterian horn when coagulating the surrounding tissue of the ovary. On Tuesday, I observed a sarcoid treatment surgery. The surgery starts with injecting chemo into the sarcoids and then the surgeon uses low electric shock waves to help deliver the chemo to the affected area. This has to be done under general anesthesia because the electronic current causes sporadic muscle firing. The next day I observed an exciting orthopedic surgery. The foal initially presented with a type two Salter Harris fracture of the left proximal tibia. It was then repaired with a T-plate and locking screws. I got to observe the plate removal. The surgery was complicated due to the amount of bone growth around the plate and the proximity to a synovial structure. Many radiographs were taken to ensure proper removal, and the doctors were successful. On Thursday, we had an MRI taken on a horse with rear navicular issues. The scans showed an extreme lack of cartilage on the navicular bone and a distal tear of the deep digital flexor tendon. No treatment plan has been made for this horse yet. To finish off the week, I observed an arthoscopic surgery on the right carpal joint. This surgery was to remove bone fragments and debride damaged cartilage. The horse is now doing well and should return to activity in a few weeks. Also on Friday a horse that was been watting for her stem cell injections final got them! They were injected into her suspensory ligaments in hopes of healing the dystrophic mineralization she has.
My labmate Hannah and I had a busy week. Starting Monday, we had six legs come into necropsy, but instead of testing them, we had to save them. We were unable to test them because the man who cuts the bones for us was out of town. So we dissected everything away except the synovial structure to ensure that the cartilage would remain healthy. These samples will all be tested next week when we can cut them down to size. We also met with the mechanical professor that works on the study with us. Here we discussed the different variables of the study and how to compile the data. Now we are both ready to reveal the finding of this study in our presentations next week.
Along with the cartilage study, Hannah and I also worked on the ileal impaction study, also headed by Dr. Hanson. Here we dug through old case files of horses with ileal impactions. From there we input different variables; such as what the horse was being fed, what medications it was on etc. This was cool, and I have learned a lot from looking at the case files. Next week will be my last week, and I’m sad to say that my internship is coming to an end.
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