Page 348 - The Veterinary Care of the Horse

• thickening of the soft tissues around the joint

• calcification of soft tissue attachments, e.g. ligaments, tendons, joint capsule.
VetBooks.ir

Figure 8.3 X-ray of a split pastern; the fracture line is clearly visible

The radiographs must be interpreted with care as early lesions will not show up on the X-
rays. A 40% change in bone density must occur for the lesion to be visible. As cartilage does

not show up on radiographs, erosions confined to the articular surface will not be seen. There
is often poor correlation between the severity of radiographic changes and the degree of
lameness. The presence of bony changes around a joint may reflect previous trauma and is

not necessarily the cause of the current lameness. Nerve blocks are important in determining
whether the changes seen are significant.