Clinical Application of Current Research Findings Toward the Prevention and Treatment of Acute Laminitis in Horses With Systemic Inflammatory Diseases: An Internist’s Perspective

Laminitis is most commonly caused by metabolic disorders or systemic inflammatory diseases. There are numerous recent publications that have reported on pathophysiology of laminitis associated with systemic inflammation. These studies include both in-vitro and in-vivo models investigating inflammatory profiles, vascular reactivity or oxidative stress at different stages of development or clinical laminitis and some studies have proposed therapeutic interventions. Although the amount of information in these studies is great and quality of the research is often outstanding, it has not always been clear how these findings might be applied to clinical practice. This article is intended to report one internist's perspective on recent research findings on the pathophysiology and prevention of laminitis in horses with systemic inflammatory diseases and how these findings might be applied to clinical practice.