Abstract
This article describes a rare neurological complication of anaesthesia in a 2 year-old Clydesdale colt undergoing castration. Anaesthesia was induced with glyceryl guaiacol ether and ketamine and maintained with halothane. Following an uneventful anaesthetic of 40 minutes, the horse recovered from anaesthesia in a padded recovery stall. After approximately 70 minutes in the recovery stall, the horse attempted to stand and adopted a dog sitting position. One hundred and fifty minutes later, the horse became distressed and was sedated with xylazine. Clinical examination of the horse did not reveal any evidence of myositis or fractures. A neurological examination revealed an intact anal reflex, deep pain response in the hind legs, tail tone and voluntary movement of the hind legs was possible. The horse deteriorated neurologically over the next 24 hours and was euthanased on humane grounds. The horse was submitted for necropsy. Gross pathology was unremarkable except for a small amount of haemorrhage around the right kidney. Histopathology revealed no abnormalities in any muscle groups or peripheral nerves. Congestion and axonal swelling of the spinal cord was evident from T16 to S1. Ischaemic neurons were evident from L 1 to L 6. The most prominent lesions were at L4 and L5. A diagnosis of myelomalacia was made. This is a rare complication of anaesthesia in horses with 9 case studies appearing in the literature since 1979. This is the 1st case to be reported in South Africa. The speculated pathophysiology and risk factors for this complication are discussed.
Highlights
Anaesthetic mortality in horses is high[15] when compared with small animals[5,7]
Anaesthesia was induced with glyceryl guaiacol ether (30 g, i/v) (GGE, Kyron Laboratories, Benrose) until the horse was unstable, followed immediately by ketamine (1.2 g, i/v) (Anaket V, Centaur Labs)
One hour and ten minutes after the end of anaesthesia the horse attempted to stand on its front limbs but no support was seen from the hind limbs
Summary
Anaesthetic mortality in horses is high (approximately 2 %)[15] when compared with small animals[5,7]. Myelomalacia is a rare anaesthetic complication in horses and there have been no controlled studies Our understanding of this condition is largely based on case studies reported in the literature[26]. In order to improve our understanding of this condition it is vital that each case is carefully documented to allow for a retrospective study of the literature, an assessment of aAnaesthesiology: Department of Companion Animal Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort, 0110 South Africa. One hour and ten minutes after the end of anaesthesia the horse attempted to stand on its front limbs but no support was seen from the hind limbs. Three hours after the end of anaesthesia the horse had made numerous attempts to stand and was exhausted. An attempt was made to assist the horse to stand but no support from the hindquarters was
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