Transcript Lecture 3x

 VBA 501: APPLIED ANATOMY
ARTHROLOGY AND INTRA ARTICULAR INJECTIONS.
DR OLUDE, M.A.
TYPES OF JOINTS
 Synarthroses
 Diarthroses
 Amphiarthroses
SYNARTHROSES











Joints united by a fibrous tissue, cartilage or a mixture of both.
Often termed immovable joints.
E.g.
Suture: margins interlock
1. squamos overlyinig edges (temporal mandibular)
2. serrata: frontal
3. harmonious: nasal
Syndesmosis: uniting medium is elastic tissue, fibrous or both
Synchondrosis/synostosis: uniting medium is cartilage/bone
Symphisis: joints in the median plane
Gomphosis: tooth in alveoli
DIARTHROSES
 Joint with a:
 cavity,
 capsule with synovial fluid
 Mobility
CLASSIFICATION
Ginglymus: hinge joint (elbow)
Arthrodia: gliding (intercarpals)
Trochlear: pivot (atlanto axial)
Enarthrosis: ball and socket (hip)
Diagramatic
representation of
the Synovial joint
A typical diarthroses
AMPHIARTHROSES
 Joints have both synarthrodial and diarthrodial
features:
 Intercentral vertebral joints (between bodies)
 Interneural vertebral joints (between articular
processes).
Thoracic limb articulations
 Shoulder
 Elbow
 Carpal
 Fetlock
 Pastern
 Coffin
Important bones and joints of the
forelimb
 Scapula (shoulder blade): flat bone with a large area of
cartilage that partially forms the withers. The shoulder length
and angle is very important to horsemen when evaluating
conformation.
 Humerus: lies between the scapula and the radius, making an
angle of about 55 degrees down and back.
 Radius: extends from the elbow, where it articulates with the
humerus, and travels downward to the carpus. It forms the
"forearm" of the horse along with the ulna.
 Ulna: caudal to the radius, it is usually partially fused to that
bone in an adult horse.
 Shoulder joint (scapulohumeral joint): usually has an
angle of 120-130 degrees when the horse is standing, which
can extended to 145 degrees, and flexed to 80 degrees (such
as when the horse is jumping and obstacle).
 Elbow joint (humeroradial joint): hinge joint that can
flex 55-60 degrees.
 Carpus (knee): consists of 7-8 bones placed in 2 rows to
form 3 joints. The 1st carpal bone is present only 50% of the
time.
Pelvic limb articulations
 Sacro Iliac
 Hip
 Stifle
-femoro-patellar
-femoro-tibial
 Hock
-tibio-tarsal
-intertarsal
-tarso-metatarsal
Important bones and joints of the
hindlimb
 Pelvis: made up of the os coxae, the largest of the flat bones in a
horse. It is made up of the ilium, the ischium, and the pubis. At
the junction of these three bones is a cavity called the
acetabulum, which acts as the socket of the hip joint. The pelvic
cavity is larger in diameter in the mare than in the stallion,
providing more room for the foal during birth.
 Femur: the largest long bone in a horse. Proximally it forms a
ball-and-socket joint with the pelvis to form the hip joint, and
distally it meets the tibia and patella at the stifle joint. It serves
as an attachment point for the deep and middle glueteal
muscles, and the accessory and round ligaments.
 Patella
 Tibia: runs from stifle to hock. The proximal end provides attachment for the patellar
ligaments, meniscal ligaments, cruciate ligamnents, and collateral lligaments of the
stifle. The distal end provides attachment for the collateral ligaments of the hock.
 Fibula: completely fused to the tibia in most horses.
 Hip joint : Ball-and-socket joint made up of the acetabulum of the pelvis and the femur.
It is very stable.
 Stifle joint (femoropatellar joint): actually composed of three joint compartments:
the femoropatellar joint, the medial femorotibial joint, and the lateral femorotibial joint,
which are stabilized by a network of ligaments. The stifle has an articular angle of about
150 degrees.
 Tarsus (hock): consists of 6 bones (of which one is made up of the fused 1st and 2nd
tarsal bones) aligned in 3 rows. The largest bone in the hock, the calcaneus or fibular
tarsal bone, corresponds to the human heel, and creates the tuber calcis (point of hock).
It is to this point that the tendon of the gastrocnemius, portions of the biceps femoris,
and portions of the superficial digital flexor attach.
INDICATIONS
 Intra-articular injections are performed to sterilely deliver one or
more pharmaceutical drugs or other products directly into the
joint.
 The two most common reasons for a Veterinarian to perform a
joint injection are to anesthetize or “block” a joint during a
lameness examination or to medicate a joint to help keep the
horse’s joints pain-free.
INDICATIONS
 Joint injury,
 joint disease secondary to trauma or injury and
 osteoarthritis (OA) are major causes of attrition and loss of
function in horses.
TECHNIQUE
 Regardless of the product being administered, the process




of delivering intra-articular medications is essentially the
same.
The joint is cleaned with an antiseptic soap for
approximately 10-20 minutes.
The soap is rinsed off with isopropyl alcohol. Clipping the
horse’s hair is often not necessary.
The Veterinarian then injects the desired drugs or products
into the clean joint using sterile needles and syringes while
wearing sterile gloves.
Well behaved horses might only require a twitch to ensure
sufficient restraint, but less-well mannered horses will
require sedation.
Stifle
 The stifle joint consists of three compartments: femoropatellar, medial
femorotibial and lateral femorotibial. Communication between the medial
femorotibial and femoropatellar joints commonly exists and the lateral
femorotibial joint usually does not communicate.
 However, variability in communication between these joints does occur thus,
they can be treated (the three compartments of the joint) as separate entities to
ensure completeness of diagnostic anesthesia or therapeutic injections.
 The stifle joint can be blocked differently depending on the case being
evaluated and time available for the evaluation. Many times all three joints of
the stifle will be anesthetized simultaneously to determine if the lameness
does or does not originate from the stifle. An alternative approach that can be
applied is to sequentially block individual pouches of the joint. If done in this
manner the particular compartment within the stifle with pathology can be
identified.
 Identifying the compartment involved can be particularly useful in
determining therapeutic approaches and may affect other procedures,
such as arthroscopic evaluation.
 routinely anesthetize the medial femorotibial joint first.
 The most common site of injection is between the medial patellar and
medial collateral ligaments, just proximal to the tibia. With deep
palpation of the area one can usually recognize the edge of the medial
meniscus. Recommendations vary in the length of needles used. 19
gauge 1 inch needle is o.k for this joint.
 If effusion is present synovial fluid is readily obtained. Effusion is not
always apparent in lame horses but a small amount of fluid can usually
be retrieved.
 The traditional method of injecting this joint is to
approach the joint from the dorsal aspect just medial or
lateral to the middle patellar ligament. An 18 gauge 3 ½ in.
needle is directed in a plantar direction under the patella.
OR
 approach the lateral cul-de-sac of the joint. An 18 gauge 1
½-inch needle is inserted plantar to the lateral patellar
ligament, approximately 5 cm proximal to the lateral tibial
condyle. This procedure can be easier to accomplish and
synovial fluid is obtained more often.
Sacro iliac/ Coxofemoral
 The coxofemoral joint can be the most intimidating joint to inject. However,
the joint can be entered in most horses and the more you attempt, the more
confidence you will develop.
 The important landmark to palpate is the greater trochanter of the femur. On a
line between the tuber coxae and the tuber ischii, the greater trochanter is
located 3/4 of the distance (measured from cranial to caudal) towards the tuber
ischii. The greater trochanter has cranial and caudal parts separated by a notch.
The caudal part rises to a greater height than the cranial part, and it is more
readily palpated.
 Deep palpation in a relaxed patient will allow palpation of the cranial part and
sometimes in thinly muscled patients the notch separating the cranial and
caudal parts can be recognized. In heavily muscled animals palpation of the
anatomic landmarks can be difficult.
 use an 18 gauge 6 inch spinal needle to inject the coxofemoral
joint. The needle is inserted just proximal to the cranial part of
the greater trochanter and is directed in a slightly distal cranial
direction.
 In most adult horses approximately 5 inches of the needle will be
necessary to enter the joint. The skin in this area is thick and can
make penetration difficult. I routinely make a pilot hole with a 14
gauge needle to facilitate entry of the spinal needle.
 Aspiration should yield synovial fluid. Inject 25 ml of anesthetic
into this joint. It is very helpful to having the horse standing
squarely when performing this procedure.
External bony landmarks for entry site of the needle and needle advancement. Entry site of the needle is 2-cm cranial to the
cranial aspect of the contralateral tuber sacrale (TS). The midpoint distance (X) of the line between the cranial aspect of the
ipislateral tuber coxae (TC) and the cranial aspect of the greater trochanter of the femur is used as target for needle advancement
(white line)
Fig. 3. Sacroiliac region from cranial with a needle placed adjacent
to the sacroiliac joint. The 15-gauge, 25-cm-long spinal
needle is advanced towards the dorsal sacrum (A) and along the
iliac wing (B) to place medication adjacent to the medial sacroiliac
joint margin (C).
Tarsus
 The tarsometatarsal joint is easiest to inject from the plantar lateral
aspect o the horse above the head of the fourth metatarsal bone. There
is a palpable small depression about 0–5 cm proximal to the head of the
fourth metatarsal bone, approximately 1 cm dorsal to the edge of the
superficial digital flexor tendon.
 A 20 ga x 1 in. needle is directed in a distal, dorsomedial direction.
Generally, the joint will readily accept approximately 4 ml of
anesthetic. An additional two to four ml can be injected under
pressure, which can increase communication with the distal intertarsal
joint. When injected under pressure, there is also an increased
tendency to have anesthetic flush back underneath the skin.
 To ensure completeness of the diagnostic anesthesia and therapeutic
injections, routinely treat the tarsometatarsal and distal intertarsal
joints as two separate joints.
 The distal inter-tarsal joint is approached from the
medial aspect of the distal tarsus. There is a depression
between the third tarsal bone and the fused first and
second tarsal bone that is bordered dorsally by the
central tarsal bone.
Diagramatic example
of an intra-artiular
injection into the
equine fetlock joint
View of a fetlock
(metacarpal/
metatarsophalangeal) joint
injection.
COMPLICATIONS
 Complications following intra-articular injections are




few local irritation, infection and needles breaking,
could be encountered.
The potential benefits of a joint injection are farreaching; but, medicating joints can be expensive,
might not result in the desired effect, and can
potentially result in a post-injection complication
such as joint flare,
joint infection, and
irreversible cartilage degeneration.
 To help avoid infection always thoroughly clean the area,
use good handling techniques and use disposable needles
and syringes.
 Proper restraint of the animal as well as care in needle
placement and handling is important in preventing needle
breakage.
 To avoid post injection irritation, short term antiinflammatory therapy for the animal may be prescribed
and apply support wraps whenever indicated.
 Any horse with pain or swelling following any joint
injection should be re-examined by a Veterinarian as soon
as possible.