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OUR IMPACT ON EQUINE CARE
Thermofield
The ACT has funded pioneering new equipment for
the RVC Equine Referral Hospital for the treatment
of equine skin cancers. Skin tumours are very
common in horses but can be difficult to treat as
they are often located in areas where surgery would
not be possible. The injection of chemotherapeutic
agents is usually only partially successful as drugs
do not easily penetrate tumour cells.
The Thermofield unit offers a pioneering treatment
option. The application of heat to a tumour in
combination with local chemotherapy increases
uptake of drugs and improves their effects. The
heat also activates the patient’s immune system
and directly damages tumour cells by suppressing
new vessel growth and killing cancer stem-like
cells. Treatment also decreases pain in the area,
making the patient more comfortable, and is very
well tolerated with few side effects. This technique
can be used alone or in combination with surgery
on tumours that have been reduced in size. An
additional advantage of this treatment is that
general anaesthesia is not required, reducing
treatment cost and risk to the patient, and enabling
multiple treatments.
RVC Equine has long been at the forefront of
furthering equine oncology with use of new
chemotherapeutic drugs and multi-modal treatment
regimes. The Thermofield unit will add to the team’s
growing repertoire of treatment options and they
will also be trialling a combination of the treatments
to determine the optimal treatment for different
equine skin cancers.
Ophthalmology microscope
The RVC Equine Referral Hospital also now has a
specialist operating microscope which has enabled
them to perform delicate eye surgeries on horses
for the first time. The RVC Animal Care Trust appeal
for a new ophthalmology microscope for the RVC’s
Small Animal Referrals Hospital was successful last
year and this meant that the older microscope (which
had also been funded by the ACT) could be moved
to its new home at the Equine Referral Hospital. The
older microscope is still in great condition but the
new equipment was purchased to facilitate complex
surgeries on the very small eyes of the patients at the
RVC’s Small Animal Referrals Hospital.
The microscope was installed in the Equine Hospital in
January just in time to help Spotify, a beautiful 6 year-
old German Warmblood described by his owner Maria
as “an absolute dream dressage horse, hacking buddy
and friend.” When Maria went to see Spotify one
morning in February, his eye was closed and incredibly
painful, and the specialist RVC ophthalmology team
found a penetrating corneal injury that required
emergency surgery.
With the help of the equine Internal Medicine,
Anaesthesia and Nursing Teams, Spotify’s surgery
was completed within six hours of diagnosis.
He had corneal microsurgery that was only
possible because of the newly installed operating
microscope. Fortunately, Spotify recovered well
from the surgery and after two weeks he was able
to go home.
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