Today we have had Professor Andy Durham in the Clinic, to scan and biopsy the liver of one of Emilie’s cases. The patient was one of a group of horses that have recently shown signs of liver disease or hepatopathy. The condition was diagnosed via a metabolic blood profile that we run in our lab here at Peasebrook. All the horses showed markedly raised liver enzymes. Hepatopathy is a reasonably common but very worrying condition, partly because it is very difficult to pinpoint the cause. The usual suspects are mycotoxins from feedstuffs other plant toxins or viral infection.

Fortunately, the liver has great powers of recovery following a toxic event so if the cause is removed, most animals will recover. Removing the cause, because it is difficult to ascertain, usually means changing grazing and feed. The biopsy is taken to assess the degree of inflammation and any more chronic pathology. This information allows us to instigate appropriate treatment as soon as possible. The ultrasound scan can identify problems with the liver and it shows the size of the organ but its main usage with these cases is to ensure the correct path of the biopsy needle so that we obtain a diagnostic sample. This is a skilled technique and so we get Andy to perform the procedure as there is nobody more experienced.

We will get the histology results in 48 hours and hopefully the prognosis will be favourable.