Etiology and treatment of cervical abscess in horses

Subject Areas : Large Animal Diseases

Moosa Javdani ¹ , Abolfazl Barzegar Bafrouei ²

1 - Associate professor, Department of Clinical Sciences, Surgery Section, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran
2 - 2. Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Student, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran.

Received: 2019-11-06 Accepted : 2021-06-11 Published : 2025-05-14

Keywords: mare, surgery, injection, cervical abscess,

Abstract :

Traditional acupuncture is a growing modality of treatment worldwide. However, various acupuncture-related adverse effects had been reported. The common areas for intramuscular injections (IM) include cervical muscles, gluteal muscles and pectoral muscles. Contaminated hypodermic needles can result in abscess formation in injection area. Abscesses in the neck region caused by injection into the neck muscles or by using contaminated needles and resulting in cervical spinal cord damage and motor disturbances. Osteomyelitis of the cervical vertebra and spinal cord compression secondary to an abscess in the neck. Deep neck infections descend to the mediastinum through the retropharyngeal space (71% of cases) or the carotid sheath (21% of cases). Infection spread to the mediastinum is facilitated by gravity and negative intrathoracic pressure during respiration. This article expresses the occurrence of a cervical abscess at a 2- year- old mare, which resulted in good recovery using surgical drainage and lavage, and systemic antibiotics administration.

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