[The effect of a treatment protocol on the prognosis of equine laminitis]

All horses and ponies with laminitis treated at the Department of Equine Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, between 1995 and 1998 were analysed retrospectively (n = 152). Based on the results of this study and on the world-wide knowledge on laminitis a standardised treatment protocol was adopted in 1999. Fifty-eight patients have been treated for laminitis between 1999 and 2001 following the treatment protocol. Compared to our hospital-population (orthopaedic patients), mares and ponies are at higher risk developing laminitis, but the prognosis does not differ between sexes as between breeds. Radiological evidence of rotation of the third phalanx seems to be of minor importance for the prognosis. Distal displacement of the third phalanx, however, seems to worsen the prognosis. The outcome of the acute cases is significantly better in the group treated following the protocol, than in the group without protocol. The outcome of the chronic cases is not influenced by the treatment protocol. Although the cases in both groups differ, as they are all clinical cases, our data suggest that the standardised treatment protocol results in a better outcome for cases of acute laminitis.