| INFORMATION FOR HORSES HAVING SCINTIGRAPHY |
|
1. Most routine bone scans are performed on Mondays and Wednesdays, although scans can also be undertaken on other days if necessary. 2. Owners need to arrive with their horse on the day prior to the bone scan (or by special arrangement at other times). Most horses will need to have a full examination before the bone scan is undertaken. There is no need to starve the horse prior to admission. 3. It is very helpful if the horse is exercised during the preceding 3 or 4 days prior to being admitted, unless your vet advises against this. 4. Owners need to bring with them the rugs that the horse would normally wear. We will supply hay/haylage and hard food. 5. Unless we are advised to the contrary, the horse will be lunged on the morning of the scan, and then stable bandages will be applied. 6. Horses are injected with the radioactive drug intravenously between 10.00 am and 1.00 pm on the day of the scan, and are ready to be scanned three hours later. Once injected the horse becomes radioactive. As a result of the radioactivity the horse is confined to a Controlled Area (stable) for 48 hours after the injection, and owners are not permitted to visit the horse during this period. Visiting is allowed from Friday mid-day (for a Wednesday scan). 7. For safety reasons, the horse will not be mucked out whilst the stable remains a Controlled Area. 8. For performing the scan, the horse is taken to the Scanning Room and sedated. Dependent on the regions to be scanned, the procedure can last anything up to one and a half hours. It is not possible for owners to be present for the scan. 9. Once scanned the horse is taken back to its stable and left for the radioactivity to decay. 10. Approximately two days after the scan, when the horse is no longer radioactive, then further work-up, such as X-rays or nerve blocks, may be performed to follow up any findings from the bone scan. Occasionally it is necessary for the horse to be kept in for more than the standard 3 to 4 days to allow more time for further diagnostic procedures. 11. It is not normally possible to inform the clients of the bone scan findings until the day after the scan. Clients will be advised when to come and collect their horse, subject to progress with further investigations. 12. The very strict procedures in place are to minimise the exposure of staff to radiation, and are a legal requirement. This is necessary as we perform approximately 200 bone scans per year. The single dose of radiation that the horse is exposed to during the procedure poses no known risk to its health. |
