An Alternate Radiographic Guided Technique for Injection of the Equine Navicular Bursa Using a 40 mm (1.5-inch) 20-Gauge Needle: A Pilot Study.

Summary

Navicular bursa injections remain one of the more technically demanding procedures in equine practice, with operator inexperience and anatomical variation frequently resulting in unintended penetration of adjacent synovial structures—a complication that can compromise treatment efficacy and create additional pathology. McInturff and colleagues evaluated an alternative radiographic-guided injection technique using a 40 mm 20-gauge needle in an ex vivo model, comparing performance across three operators with markedly different experience levels (1, 8, and >30 years' experience). Remarkably, success rates and rates of inadvertent synovial penetration showed no statistically significant differences between operators regardless of experience level or individual hoof conformation variation. These findings suggest that this standardised radiographic approach substantially democratises the procedure, enabling practitioners across the experience spectrum to achieve consistent navicular bursa access with minimal risk of collateral joint involvement—potentially reshaping clinical protocols for what has traditionally been considered a procedure requiring considerable technical expertise.

Read the full abstract on PubMed

Key Findings

• •No significant difference in injection success rate between operators with 1, 8, and >30 years of experience using the novel technique
• •Inadvertent penetration of other synovial structures was highly unlikely with the described radiographic guided technique
• •Success rate was consistent regardless of hoof configuration variations

Conditions Studied

Tags