Evaluation of digital cryotherapy using a commercially available sleeve style ice boot in healthy horses and horses receiving i.v. endotoxin.
Authors: Burke M J, Tomlinson J E, Blikslager A T, Johnson A L, Dallap-Schaer B L
Journal: Equine veterinary journal
Summary
# Editorial Summary Cryotherapy for the equine distal limb is increasingly advocated in laminitis prevention protocols, particularly following systemic insult such as endotoxaemia, yet the thermal efficacy of commonly used commercial ice boots remained unvalidated. Burke and colleagues investigated whether a sleeve-style ice boot—designed with direct ice-to-skin contact and drainage holes—achieved adequate cooling in both healthy horses and those receiving intravenous endotoxin challenge, measuring digital skin and core temperatures over time. The boot successfully lowered digital skin temperature below the target threshold of 5°C in healthy animals; however, in endotoxin-challenged horses, the inflammatory response partially blunted this cooling response, suggesting that systemic illness may compromise the penetration of cryotherapy to the tissues most at risk of laminitic damage. These findings validate the basic cooling capability of this boot design for clinical use, whilst highlighting that therapeutic outcomes may be influenced by the degree of systemic inflammation and that treatment protocols may require adjustment in horses experiencing acute systemic disease. For practitioners implementing cryotherapy protocols post-endotoxaemia or following colic, these results underscore both the value of this boot type and the importance of commencing cooling promptly, before inflammatory cascades fully develop.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Sleeve style ice boots with direct ice contact are a clinically available option for distal limb cryotherapy in cases of laminitis or sepsis risk
- •Cooling efficacy should be confirmed when using commercial ice boots, as the degree of temperature reduction achieved may vary between products and application methods
- •Early continuous cryotherapy may be a practical preventive strategy in endotoxemic horses at risk of sepsis-associated laminitis
Key Findings
- •Digital cryotherapy using a sleeve style ice boot provides cooling to the distal limb in healthy horses and endotoxin-challenged horses
- •The study evaluated the degree of cooling achieved by a commercially available sleeve style ice boot with direct ice-to-skin contact
- •Ice boot effectiveness was assessed in both control animals and those receiving intravenous endotoxin to model sepsis-associated laminitis