NOVEMBER 2022


597


Fig 12: (a) Radiographic image of the thoracic vertebral segment from the thirteenth to sixteenth thoracic vertebra showing severe bone proliferation extending from the articular process joint (APJ) up to the base of the spinous processes (arrowhead). (b) Transverse ultrasound scan between the T14-T15 intervertebral joint space showing the irregular surface of the APJ (open arrowhead) and the bone proliferation on the side of the spinous processes (arrowhead). 1- Spinous process of T15, 2- APJ; 3- Mammillary process of T15; 4- Fourteenth rib.


a) b)


c)


Fig 13: (a) Lateral radiographic image of the thoracolumbar junction and lumbar area from the seventeenth thoracic vertebra to the fourth lumbar vertebra. The T18-L1 articular process joint (APJ) complex presents a marked arthropathy and a moderate arthropathy is noticed in L1-L2 APJ complex (open arrowheads). (b) Transverse ultrasound scan between the last thoracic vertebra and the first lumbar vertebra. Marked osteophytes are seen over the left APJ (arrowhead). (c) Transverse ultrasound scan between the first and the second lumbar vertebrae. Moderate osteophytes on the left APJ and more subtle osteophytes on the right APJ are imaged (arrowheads).


periarticular osteophytes and dorsal periarticular bone proliferation (Fig 9), with the pathological bone surface- reaching or exceeding the mammillary process; complete loss of the joint space with bone proliferation making a bridge between two adjacent vertebrae (Fig 10) and periarticular lysis and modelling of the dorsal bone surface (Fig 11). In the thoracic spine, periarticular bone proliferation of the APJs usually extends up to the base of the spinous process (Fig 12). Based on these findings, degenerative joint disease can be graded from mild to marked and the most affected side can be identified (Fig 13).


Discussion


Ultrasonography of the APJs is a useful diagnostic modality to complement clinical examination and radiographic findings in horses suspected of back pain. A retrospective


survey of the diagnostic approaches used by 168 European veterinarians in 2016 to investigate back pain revealed that radiography and ultrasonography were the preferred imaging modalities (Riccio et al., 2018). Radiography was always used by 45% of veterinarians (50% of them using it sometimes) and ultrasonography was always used by 24% of


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