A survey of neurological diseases in horses

SUMMARY: Case records of 450 horses with signs of neurological disease are reviewed. One hundred and nineteen horses with neurological disease due to trauma were examined, of which 60 were due to spinal cord trauma, 47 to brain or cranial nerve trauma and 12 to peripheral nerve trauma. Cervical vertebral fractures/trauma were the most common injury. Basisphenold/basloccipital bone fractures were the most common form of cranial trauma and facial nerve paralysis the most common cranial nerve injury. Eighty-nine horses with neurological disease due to malformation were examined. Cervical vertebral malformation occurred in 83 horses and congenital defects in 6 foals. Neurological disease due to inflammation or infection occurred in 30 horses. The most common disease of this type was meningitis, which occurred in 11 horses and foals. Neoplasms in the CNS caused neurological disease in 8 horses. The final category was miscellaneous neurological disease, which was diagnosed in 204 horses. Diseases in this category included neonatal (28 cases), toxic/metabolic (27 cases), idiopathic (133 cases), degenerative (3 cases) and other neurological diseases (13 cases). The most common condition was idiopathic laryngeal hemiplegia (116 cases).
Where possible, diagnosis relied on a thorough neurological examination with use of ancillary tests in selected cases including rhinolaryngoscopy, radiography, myelography, ophthalmoscopy and cerebrospinal fluid analysis when indicated. In many cases necropsy and histopathological confirmation or diagnosis was necessary.