Dianne McFarlane, D.V.M., Ph.D., M.S., received a grant from the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation to pursue a project focusing on how a specialized form of diagnostic imaging might be used to further understand the progression of certain types of laminitis in horses.
The two-year, $185,663 grant will enable McFarlane, professor and chair of the college’s Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, to work to validate the use of positron emission tomography, or PET, scans for identifying disease pathology and progression in horses with insulin-associated laminitis.
Laminitis is a highly painful disease of the equine foot in which the soft tissue structures, or lamellae, that attach the hoof wall to the coffin bone fail, leading to rotation and sinking of the coffin bone. More than 100,000 cases of laminitis occur each year in the U.S., with 5-8% of these resulting in euthanasia. Yet, despite the importance of laminitis to the equine industry and horse-owning population, there are few effective treatments or proven recommendations for management.
“The unique and inaccessible anatomy of the equine hoof has been the major factor that has impeded the ability to understand the events that lead to the structural failure of the foot in equine laminitis,” McFarlane said. “The recent adaptation of positron emission tomography to characterize inflammation and metabolism in the equine limb has provided an opportunity to non-invasively examine structural and functional changes during the different phases of laminitis in the live horse.”
In collaboration with a team of experts from New Bolton Center, University of Pennsylvania, led by Dr. Andrew van Eps, McFarlane aims to define how PET can be used in diagnosis, prognosis and rehabilitation management for horses with laminitis. First, PET imaging will be compared to clinical, radiological and pathological markers in early laminitis. Next, PET imaging will be used to characterize the acute, subacute and recovery phases in clinical cases of laminitis. Together, completion of these aims will improve understanding of how clinical and radiological findings relate to PET findings, and how PET can be used to better treat cases of laminitis in practice.
“Using PET scans to recognize clinical cases of laminitis earlier than current methods may mean quicker interventions and more horses with a positive outcome,” McFarlane said. “In addition, data from this study will serve in the generation of specific recommendations on appropriate rest time to ensure resolution of laminitis.”