A SKELETAL OSSIFICATION INDEX FOR NEONATAL FOALS |
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| Authors: | Ragan Adams MA DVM Paul Poulos DVM PhD |
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| Institution: | Department of Surgical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32601.;Department of Veterinary Radiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32601. |
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| Abstract: | A skeletal ossification index (SOI) was devised to standardize the radiographic evaluation of the carpal and tarsal regions of newborn foals (less than two weeks of age). This index was based on two radiographic views of a carpus and a tarsus. Four grades of cuboidal bone ossification were discerned: Grade 1 foals had some cuboidal bones with no ossification; Grade 2 was assigned when all cuboidal bones had radiographic evidence of some ossification; in Grade 3 the bones were small and round; in Grade 4 the cuboidal bones were shaped like the adult counterparts. Radiographs were taken of 24 neonatal foals of various gestational ages (range, 297–374 days). The relationships between the SOI and two measures of newborn foal developmental maturity, gestationai age and body weight, were assessed. There was no relationship between the sex of the foal and the SOI, but there was a relationship between the SOI and the gestational age (one-tailed Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, r = 0.748) and between the SOI and body weight (r = 0.77) for the 24 foals. For the ten foals with gestational ages less than 320 days, the relationship between body weight and the SOI was significant (r = 0.953), but the relationship between gestational age and the SOI was not significant (r = 0.605). The degree of ossification of the bones of neonatal foals that are born prematurely (< 320 days of gestation) or are "small-for-gestational age" at birth may be incomplete, and we suggest that radiographs of these regions should be made to assess ossification in foals in these two high risk groups. |
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| Keywords: | neonatal foal skeletal ossification carpus tarsus |
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