Surgery

Surgical facilities

The Equine Centre has world class surgical facilities with padded recovery stalls for safe anaesthetic induction and recovery of surgery. The theatre has a separate preparation area, filtered air-conditioning and air pressure gradients, and one way horse traffic.

Arthroscopic surgery

Arthroscopic surgery involves keyhole surgery techniques to remove bone chips, investigate lameness, and treat abnormal joint development in younger horses (OCD). An arthroscope (a very small camera) is inserted into the affected joint through a small incision. As most joints have multiple compartments, more than one insertion site may be required to thoroughly assess the entire joint. A second small incision is used to allow placement of an instrument into the joint to remove debris (chip fractures, cartilage flaps). We may use special motorised resectors or radiofrequency probes to remove unhealthy tissue where necessary. During the surgical procedure, the joint is constantly flushed with sterile fluid to remove smaller fragments and at the end of the surgery, the incisions in the skin are closed with simple sutures.

Arthroscopy allows rapid healing of joint incisions, reduces the risk of infection and post operative pain.