Estudio radiográfico y ecográfico de las enfermedades articulares de los terneros en la montaña Astur-leonesa

Resum

The diagnostic of lameness in cattle requires large amounts of time and the application of different imaging techniques. In the diagnostics, it is primordial to discriminate whether the lameness are due to handling and feeding mistakes, other environmental factors related to the exploitation, traumatism or simply genetic defects. Radiography and ultrasounds are two basic imaging techniques allowing the monitoring and characterization of small and large scale injuries in the structures of the cattle musculoskeletal system that can derive in lameness. Moreover, the use of these techniques allows comparative studies of different conditions and the development of diagnostic patterns for these diseases. In this work, 304 cattle corresponding to clinical cases of calves suffering from lameness have been studied. Following the general physical exploration and a specific examination of the musculoskeletal system, studies by mean of echography and radiography were performed to identify possible pathological processes in the musculoskeletal system. The results of this study show that the radiology and ultrasounds are fully complementary techniques rather than competing approaches in veterinary medicine. Owing to their specific properties, both techniques are required in the development of modern clinical practice in cattle and none of them is able to provide individually a complete picture of the process. ! Echography has proven to be the most versatile and practical method in addressing the mobile clinic of the musculoskeletal system of cattle. Moreover, it is complemented perfectly with radiography in the development of an efficient, simple and mobile clinical practice. ! Summary ! ! ! 538 The statistical analysis of the results obtained in this study shows that, in young cattle, most of the diseases in the extremities are directly related to deficiencies in the environmental conditions and handling that are of septic origin. Bone fractures have been reported in the literature as an important factor increasing the mortality in neonate cattle, although the actual incidences are unknown and it could also affect calves of smaller size. Our work demonstrates that fractures are intimately related to excessive traction and inappropriate maneuvers during the delivery or resolution of dystocia. In the case of subtendinous bursitis, it is shown that its etiology is not only related to the irritant causes associated to environmental and handling factors, but to septic processes that ultimately transform them into abscesses in most of the cases. We have found that, albeit the current scientific knowledge, the intensified industrialization of the agriculture has yielded a considerable increase in the occurrence of Diseases of the Skeletal Development in young cattle. Besides the basic dyschondroplasia common to all these diseases, the breeding, feeding and managing techniques that are currently practiced the primary responsible for its appearance. Concerning the bone hypoplasia, we found enough evidences to consider that the disease is linked to a congenital muscular hypertrophy in cattle of the Asturiana de los Valles breed. Finally, we can conclude that the conditions in the tendons and ligaments documented in this work were unrelated to specific physical efforts by patients or to the dissemination of adjacent septic processes.