Osteochondritis in a thoroughbred foal

Abstract

Extract

Osteochondritis is an avascular necrosis of bone which occurs in the epiphyses of the immature animal. There are reports of this disease occurring at various sites in man (Aegerter and Kirkpatrick, 1968), in the dog (Clayton-Jones and Vaughan, 1970; 1970), and in the horse (Adams, 1966). In man it most commonly occurs in the medial condyle of the femur (Aegerter and Kirkpatrick, 1968) but in the dog the proximal humeral epiphysis is most commonly affected (Griffiths, 1968). I have seen no records of the incidence of osteochondritis in the various epiphyses of the horse but there are re-ports of its occurring in the distal epiphy-sis of the femur, within the carpal and tarsal bones, in the distal epiphysis of the metacarpal bone, in the cervical vertebrae, and in the proximal humeral epiphyses (Schebitz and Schulz, 1965; Adams, 1966; Rooney, 1969; Van Pelt et al., 1970; Morgan, 1972; Raker et al., 1973).