Current joint therapy usage in equine practice: Changes in the last 10 years.
Authors: Zanotto Gustavo M, Frisbie David D
Journal: Equine veterinary journal
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Evolving Joint Therapy Preferences in Equine Practice Osteoarthritis management in performance horses has undergone significant shifts over the past decade, prompting a comparative survey of American equine practitioners' therapeutic choices between 2009 and 2019. Researchers administered electronic questionnaires to members of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, repeating questions from an earlier survey and adding new items to track adoption of emerging treatments; 407 responses were analysed and compared longitudinally. Triamcinolone acetonide retained its position as the preferred corticosteroid for high-motion joints, whilst methylprednisolone acetate (MPA)—formerly dominant for high-motion joints—showed significantly decreased use (odds ratio 2.38), with practitioners shifting away from this agent in favour of alternative corticosteroids. Most strikingly, autologous conditioned serum adoption increased substantially over the decade (odds ratio 4.24), reflecting growing enthusiasm for biological therapies, and concomitant antibiotic use with intra-articular injections became considerably more commonplace. The findings reveal meaningful practice evolution that doesn't uniformly align with contemporary evidence, warranting reflection amongst equine professionals about whether emerging therapies represent genuine clinical advances or simply follow market trends and professional opinion rather than robust scientific validation.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Biological therapies like autologous conditioned serum have gained considerable traction in equine joint therapy over the past decade and are now widely used by practitioners
- •Triamcinolone acetonide remains the gold standard corticosteroid for high-motion joints, while methylprednisolone acetate is preferred for low-motion joints
- •Clinical practice patterns are shifting faster than supporting scientific evidence in some cases, suggesting the need to critically evaluate emerging therapies against current research
Key Findings
- •Triamcinolone acetonide remained the most common corticosteroid for high-motion joints in both survey periods
- •Use of methylprednisolone acetate for high-motion joints decreased significantly from 2009 to 2019 (OR: 2.38, P = 0.001)
- •Autologous conditioned serum use increased substantially from 2009 to 2019 (OR: 4.24, P < 0.001)
- •Concomitant use of antibiotics with intra-articular medications became significantly more common over the 10-year period