Tracheal wash, BAL or radiographs - is that necessary? Working up a respiratory case
15 Nov 2024
RVC Equine Theatre 1
Equine
,
Internal Medicine
,
Respiratory
A good history and clinical examination can be used to diagnose many cases of equine respiratory disease. Endoscopy is a valuable diagnostic aid but when is it most useful and when does it add little to our clinical assessment?
Endoscopy can be useful for the detection of mild/subclinical disease, to evaluate microbiological factors, dynamic changes and to identify uncommon/ unexpected pathology. Tracheal wash samples can be useful for bacteriology and cytology, broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) samples are usually only used for cytology and may be particularly useful for mild/ subclinical disease.
Learning Outcomes
An understanding of:
the clinical approach to common respiratory diseases of the adult horse,
the most useful indications for endoscopy and,
the advatages and disadvantages of tracheal wash and broncho-alveolar lavage samples
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