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Abstract
Laminitis is a painful, debilitating and life-threatening disease affecting horses worldwide. The disease can arise after local or systemic insults and the pathogenesis is not well understood. Alterations in laminar blood flow have been implicated in the pathogenesis of laminitis; however, controversy exists regarding the nature of these changes. The purposes of this study were to develop and evaluate a new technique for measuring laminar blood flow in horses.Using a technique to measure cerebral blood flow in humans, xenon133 in solution was injected intra-arterially in the metacarpal region of healthy horses and the gamma radiation emitted at the dorsal laminae was recorded.The results of this study indicate that xenon solution can be safely injected intra-arterially in healthy horses, and that similar peaks in gamma radiation are recorded at the hoof wall. Consequently, this technique may provide useful information about alterations in laminar blood flow in horses with laminitis.