Thermographic Image of the Hoof Print in Leisure and Cross-Country Warmblood Horses: A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: The field of veterinary medicine lacks information on equine thermal hoof printing, and few data on the same subject are available in dogs. In human medicine, thermography is used to detect heat emitted by the foot when it comes in contact with a flat surface to detect the abnormalities of the foot balance. The hypothesis states that the thermal pattern of the hoof print in Warmblood horses is detectable and it does not vary among the four limbs in leisure and cross-country Warmblood horses in terms of mean temperature of the hoof print surface. A pilot study was conducted to investigate the accuracy of thermography in temperature detection of the hoof print and to investigate the occurrence of possible differences in the mean value of six selected areas and whether there are any differences in the mean temperature of the hoof print between leisure and cross-country Warmblood horses. METHODS: The study included sixty non-lame Warmblood horses with all limbs taken into consideration (n = 240). The selection criteria for the horses were: no alterations in posture and no muscle group asymmetry during visual examination, no lateral or medial deviation of the carpus or hock, no reaction to the flexion tests, negative reactions to the hoof tester, no lameness during walking, trotting or lunging, no anti-inflammatory medication in the last three weeks prior to examination and rectal temperature between 37 °C and 38 °C. The hoof print of each hoof was measured with the horse in the standing position, all four limbs on the ground, using a FLIR E50 thermal camera. Six areas of temperature from the hoof print were taken into consideration, and for each of them, the mean value was identified using FLIR Tools software for photo interpretation. The One-Way ANOVA test was used to test the differences between the mean temperatures obtained for each selected area from all limbs and to compare the hoof print temperature values between the leisure horses and cross-country horses. Data were statistically processed using SAS Studio. RESULTS: Thermography can detect the temperature emitted by the hoof but the thermal patterns of the hoof print show no difference for all four studied limbs. No significant statistical differences were noticed between the mean temperatures identified for each studied area. Also, there were no statistical differences between the mean temperature of the selected areas from the forelimbs and hindlimbs from the horses used for leisure and those used for cross-country. Based on this aspect, the mean temperature of one selected area can be determined in any of the four limbs, without visible variations. CONCLUSIONS: Thermography can detect the hoof print on a flat surface and the mean temperature for each studied area can be proposed as a reference temperature value. There were no differences in the mean temperature of the hoofprint between leisure and cross-country Warmblood Horses. Further investigations are required to clarify whether there are any differences in the thermal pattern of hoof prints from other breeds or from horses with musculoskeletal conditions.

Evaluation of Thermal Changes of the Sole Surface in Horses with Palmar Foot Pain: A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Horses with palmar foot pain do not show a typical increase in temperature in the palmar aspect of the hoof and heel due to low blood flow. The objectives of the current study were to determine the changes and differences in the thermographic pattern of the sole surface in horses with unilateral palmar foot pain and non-lame horses before and after training. We hypothesized that the thermal pattern and the local temperature of the frog area and toe area would be similar, with an increased local temperature after training in both lame and non-lame horses. A pilot study was conducted to investigate the accuracy of thermography used to detect changes in local temperature and to compare the thermal patterns observed on the sole surface after training. METHODS: The study group included eight horses with unilateral forelimb palmar foot pain (n = 8) and healthy contralateral limbs (n = 8). Four additional non-lame horses served as controls. The horses were selected for the study based on the following criteria: forelimb with unilateral chronic progressive lameness and positive reactions when performing the hoof test and frog wedge test, degenerative findings of the navicular bone, and improvement in lameness after perineural analgesia of the medial and lateral palmar digital nerve. The local temperatures of the frog and toe areas were measured before and after training in the affected and contralateral limbs in the study group and both forelimbs in the control group using an FLIR E50 thermal camera. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was applied to check the sensitivity and specificity of the results for the studied groups. RESULTS: The thermal patterns of the hoof presented differences between the three groups of horse limbs. After training, the temperature of the sole surface increased, and its area increased in the limbs affected with palmar foot pain compared with the non-lame limbs in the study group and the limbs in the control group. The temperature of the frog area did not increase after training in the limbs affected with palmar foot pain compared with the same area in the other groups. The ROC curve analysis demonstrated the medical applicability of this tool and showed that thermography is a reliable diagnostic test to correctly discriminate between non-lame horses and those with palmar foot pain. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend thermographic scanning of the toe and frog area to detect changes in the local temperature of the sole surface after training to discriminate the horses with palmar foot pain from non-lame ones. Further investigation is required to clarify whether the observed thermographic imaging features of the sole surface are characteristic for horses with palmar foot pain.

Assessment of Pulpal Status in Primary Teeth Following Direct Pulp Capping in an Experimental Canine Model.

(1) Background: This study aimed to assess the pulpal response of primary teeth by pulse-oximetry (PO) in a canine model, following direct pulp capping (DPC). (2) Methods: Forty-eight primary teeth from eight canine subjects were divided into three treatment groups, based on the DPC material­calcium hydroxide (CH), MTA, BiodentineTM)­and three corresponding control groups. Data from PO pulp testing were correlated with laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) testing, computer tomographic (CT) densitometry and histological analysis; the experiment lasted 14 days. (3) Results: SpO2 recordings revealed statistically significant differences (p = 0.002, <0.05) between the treatment and control groups, and no significant differences (p = 0.257, >0.05) were observed between treatment groups. LDF recordings showed significant differences (p = 0.002, <0.05) between the treatment and control groups and identified significant differences between materials (p = 0.001, <0.05). CT densitometry indicated vital pulps in all teeth, with pulpal inflammation detected in 6/8 CH-capped teeth and 2/8 MTA-capped teeth. Histologic evaluation confirmed vital pulp in all specimens, with different degrees of inflammation. (4) Conclusions: Within its limitations, the present study confirms the diagnostic value of PO evaluation of pulpal status in primary teeth with histologic means after pulp-capping procedures in a canine model. However, various degrees of pulpal inflammation elicited by different pulp-capping materials seem not to correlate with the obtained PO values.