Vet gets ahead with horses (From Gazette & Herald)

Vet gets ahead with horses

HORSES need their brains scanned just as much as humans do - so a North Yorkshire vet has designed a revolutionary new medical machine.

The world's first free-standing horse's head scanner has been installed at a surgery near Malton.

Vet Alastair Nelson spent 12 months painstakingly researching the technology behind CT scanners before coming up with his revolutionary idea - using a human scanner with a bigger gap.

Alastair managed to buy a CT scanner from a hospital, and then dug a pit big enough for a horse to stand underneath it.

The device means horses' heads can be scanned quickly and without the animal having to be anaesthetised. Alastair, a partner at the Rainbow Equine Clinic in Old Malton, researched CT technology at University College Davis in California, which has pioneered the use of CT scanners on soft tissue.

He said: "The scanner has been a fantastic advance and we are delighted with it.

"It's a complete step-change from conventional x-ray, giving high quality three-dimensional imaging and vastly improving our ability to see what surgery or action we need to take to get a horse back to fitness.

"The unique selling point is the standing head scan - the technique is quick, thorough and avoids using an anaesthetic."

The CT scanner will mean vets can more easily investigate sinus infections, tooth problems and neurological defects, as well as lameness.

Alastair said early results had already "exceeded expectations".

He added: "We have already investigated horses with lameness localised to their feet and fetlocks and CT has given us much additional information compared with radiography and ultrasound.

"It's great news for the practice and I believe it's an advance in technology which will be hugely welcomed in the horse world."

The scanner is now fully operational in a specially converted barn at the clinic.

James Brennan, York Racecourse marketing manager, said: "Anything that improves horse welfare and clearly avoids anaesthetic, just as with humans, does seem to be a good idea."

Updated: 15:04 Wednesday, October 05, 2005