EQUINE VETERINARY EDUCATION / AE / FEBRUARY 2013 67 Clinical Commentary Septic osteitis and osteomyelitis in foals – are antimicrobials alone enough? C. Koch* and S. Witte Equine Clinic and Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Vetsuisse-Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. *Corresponding author: email:
[email protected] Keywords: horse; foal; septic osteitis; septic osteomyelitis; medical treatment; doxycycline Introduction fibrinogen concentrations and blood cultures, however, can The case report by Lawrence and Fraser (2013) describes the be helpful in diagnosing O/OM (Sayegh et al. 2001; Newquist successful management of 2 weanlings with septic osteitis of and Baxter 2009). the proximal sesamoid bones, using prolonged (6 weeks) Radiography is most commonly used to confirm and follow antimicrobial therapy alone. Doxycycline, an antimicrobial a septic bone lesion. Bone lysis may not be recognised with excellent bone penetration properties, was deemed radiographically until at least 4–5 days post infection, at a time essential to treatment success. In contrast to the poor when the bone has lost 30–50% or more of its mineral content outcome in previously reported cases of septic sesamoid bone (Turner 1987; Bramlage 1998; Goodrich and Nixon 2004). In osteitis, the authors were able to show the value of a cases with concurrent infarction, this time lag may be as great conservative approach over surgical debridement. The as 2–3 weeks (Wegener and Alavi 1991; Bertone 1999). question is to what extent are we able to extrapolate this to Delayed diagnosis and associated extensive lysis may result in the general treatment of septic osteitis and osteomyelitis in pathological fracture, with a negative impact on prognosis young horses? (Fig 1).