The voice of medical imaging and clinical oncology

Tips and tricks to get the best quality radiographs in horses

Dagmar Berner equine veterinary x-ray

Due to their large size the general anaesthesia risk in horses is relatively high compared to other species, with a mortality of 1%. Furthermore, while small animals will lay down when sedated, horses will remain standing. Therefore, the majority of radiographs are acquired in standing patients and the equipment needs to be moved around the […]Due to their large size the general anaesthesia risk in horses is relatively high compared to other species, with a mortality of 1%. Furthermore, while small animals will lay down when sedated, horses will remain standing. Therefore, the majority of radiographs are acquired in standing patients and the equipment needs to be moved around the horse. Portable machines are flexible, allowing easy adjustments of angles and positioning of the primary beam. Due to their small size and weight, they are routinely used at the ‘home’ yard of the patient. However, their power is insufficient to get high quality radiographs of more proximal areas such as the thoracolumbar spine. For the latter, ceiling-mounted systems with high output generators and connected grids are necessary. Due to their fixed nature, movement of the system will not be as flexible as portable systems and they can only be used in hospitals. The head of the x-ray machine should be as adjustable as possible, allowing not only horizontal and down vertical positioning, additional upward positioning should also be possible. A further downside in some systems is the lowest level of the horizontal x-ray beam, which should ideally be just a few centi-metres above the floor. Another important consideration is the overall vertical movement of the machine. While for acquisition of feet radiographs the primary beam should be as low as possible, for obtaining head radiographs the machine should be able to be positioned almost two metres from floor level.

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