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Successful treatment of an open incisive bone fracture in a horse using a locking compression plate combined with intraoral cerclage wiring

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Abstract

A seven-year-old warmblood mare presented with bilateral epistaxis, facial swelling and deviation of the nose and upper lip. Upon clinical and computed tomographic examination, a complete, oblique, open and displaced fracture of the nasal process of the incisive bone of the left and right maxilla was found. The fracture was treated surgically with a 3.5 narrow locking compression plate on the dorsolateral aspect of the incisive bone in combination with oral cerclage wiring after temporary retention with cerclage wire connecting the incisors of the mandible and maxilla. The intraoral cerclage wiring was removed twelve weeks post surgery, while the plate remained in situ. There were only minor postsurgical complications, which consisted of transient facial nerve paralysis and swelling. Follow-up radiographs taken eight weeks after surgery documented good fracture healing. Nine months after surgery, the mare returned to her intended use, and showed excellent cosmesis.

How to Cite:

Leps, A. & Haardt, H. & Vanderperren, K. & Vlaminck, L. & Martens, A., (2022) “Successful treatment of an open incisive bone fracture in a horse using a locking compression plate combined with intraoral cerclage wiring”, Vlaams Diergeneeskundig Tijdschrift 91(1), 17–23. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/vdt.84668