Our sports medicine specialists are supported by on-site board-certified veterinary radiologists with specialty certification in equine diagnostic imaging who provide real-time feedback on imaging and perform complicated imaging during your horse’s visit, ensuring that we provide the highest quality imaging for your horse.
• Standing CT Scan
• Standing PET Scan
• Standing MRI
• X-ray
Standing Computed Tomography (CT Scan)
The Qalibra standing CT system allows us to acquire images of the horses, head, neck, front and hind limbs without the need for general anesthesia. The CT scanner is a state-of-the art Canon Aquillion Exceed LB 160 slice scanner with a 90 cm field of view that takes just seconds to scan your horse once it is positioned.
What can standing CT be used for in my horse?
CT in the standing, sedated horse, can be used to aid in the diagnosis of lameness originating from the foot, fetlock, carpus (“knee”), tarsus (“hock”), and proximal suspensory (front and hind limbs). It is especially useful for diagnosis of problems in the head such as sinusitis, dental disease, and head-shakers, as well as injuries and conditions to the cranial neck.
Under general anesthesia, images of the pelvis, stifle, shoulder, elbow, and the most caudal portion of the neck can also be obtained.
Standing PET Scan
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a powerful tool that uses an injectable radioactive material (radiopharmaceutical) that can highlight areas of pathology that might be causing lameness from the horse’s foot to just above the carpus (“knee”) and tarsus (“hock”). This modality is highly sensitive for detecting areas of rapid bone turnover. It may provide more information than a traditional bone scan as it acquires images in a 3-D fashion and these images can be fused with either MRI, CT, or radiographic images. The radioisotope used also has a much shorter half-life than that used in a bone scan, which means your horse has to spend less time in the hospital.
What can standing PET scan be used for in my horse?
As with a bone scan, standing PET scan can be used as a screening tool if the nerve or joint blocks are not definitive about the exact region causing the lameness, your horse is not amenable to nerve or joint blocks, or if there are multiple areas of suspicion of problems on other diagnostic imaging.
Standing MRI
The Hallmarq standing low-field MRI allows us to image limbs of the horse below the carpus (“knee) or tarsus (“hock”) while standing and sedated. MRI provides excellent soft tissue imaging as well as information about the bones and joints.
What can standing MRI be used for in my horse?
A standing MRI can be used to image any lameness condition that has been localized in the lower limb, especially in the foot, that x-rays or ultrasound have not provided an adequate answer. As with the CT, images from the MRI can be fused with PET scan images to provide complimentary information.
High Powered X-ray
Our high powered x-ray generator and Canon wireless DR plates allow us to get high quality images of regions that portable machines struggle to adequately penetrate including the thorax (chest), abdomen, and denser areas of the spinal column.
