Not long ago veterinarians were skeptical about untried diagnostic technologies like laparoscopy, gastroscopy, and ultrasonography. Now these are essential referral tools for any equine practice. Today, the most advanced diagnostic resource in horse medicine is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and it is fast becoming the gold standard for refined detection of equine disorders. It has proven especially useful when other modalities are unremarkable and fail to pinpoint the cause of a disease or injury. To take advantage of this exciting new technology, Patterson Veterinary MRI, a partnership including Dr. Herbert Burns of Pine Bush Equine, Dr. Ronald Gaeta of Dunbarton Equine, Dr. Christopher Miller of Miller and Associates, and New England Equine Practice, P.C., was created in 2007. We are located just ninety minutes from Manhattan, and our state-of-the-art facility is housed at a full-service equine care center. We strongly urge you to take advantage of this highly effective modality. It can save you time, save you money, and in some cases, even save the life of the horse in your care.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging employs magnetic fields and radiofrequency waves to create detailed, multi-plane and multi-slice, cross-sectional images of bone, tissue, and fluid under examination. The modality is highly effective in the diagnosis of neurological conditions, sinus disorders, and musculoskeletal disease. It is particularly useful for lameness and orthopedic problems, where other imaging techniques do not adequately reveal the cause of the pathology. Many horses referred for MRI have shown minimal abnormalities using radiography, scintigraphy, or ultrasonography.

The ability to visualize a fracture in three dimensions prior to repair is obviously an enormous advantage particularly in the multi-fragmented distal limb fractures commonly seen in the horse. Pre-surgical planning prior to internal fixation is more commonly accomplished utilizing CT images, but we have recently been evaluating the use of short MRI T1 weighted sequences to accomplish the same thing. We have been able to attain excellent three dimensional studies in less than four minutes of imaging time. It takes a little more than 10 minutes to transport the horse to and from the MRI room and position him. Since we no longer take the time to take pre-operative radiographs we potentially add only about ten more minutes to the anesthetic time. More accurate preoperative planning should translate into shorter surgical procedures and hopefully fewer post-op problems. Finally, since the MRI table doubles as the surgery table, there is often no need to reposition the horse for surgery following the completion of the MRI.

Our open MRI gives us the ability to image limbs from the carpus and tarsus distally to the foot, as well as the head and proximal cervical spine. Our facility allows us to perform many surgical procedures immediately following the MRI without the time lost (often critical to the welfare of the patient) and extra expense of recovering and re-anesthetizing the horse. MRI specialist, Dr. Alexia McKnight, DACVR, is available for consultation during the procedure.