Iatrogenic equine laminitis – some medicolegal aspects

Iatrogenic equine laminitis – some medicolegal aspects

Iatrogene Hufrehe – forensische Aspekte

Gerhards H

DOI: 10.21836/PEM20110607
Year: 2011
Volume: 27
Issue: 6
Pages: 626-630

Iatrogenic laminitis is defined as laminitis induced by any veterinary treatment in equids, but which is mainly induced by drug therapy. In former times, iatrogenic laminitis was a feared entity after administration of strong laxatives such as aloe and tartar emetic or castor oil. Today, mainly glucocorticoid therapy-induced, typically very severe laminitis is a clinical and forensic problem. Other more indirect iatrogenic laminitis cases are laminitis cases after antibiotics-associated diarrhea (duodenitis/proximal jejunitis or typhlocolitis) eg. following colic surgery, or laminitis associated with abuse of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or laminitis in an excessively loaded limb after a painful surgical complication in the opposite limb, such as septic arthritis. To avoid successfully being sued for iatrogenic laminitis associated with glucocorticoid therapy, it is recommended to strictly adhere to the recommended types of application and to the recommended maximum dosages in the patient information leaflet of the manufacturer. Although the incidence of glucocorticoid therapy-induced laminitis seems to be low, it is also recommended to obtain informed consent prior to treatment in cases with obviously increased risk for laminitis (eg. horses that were previously affected with laminitis, with diseases associated with sepsis and endotoxaemia, in obese horses or horses with metabolic syndrome and cushing syndrome, horses recently treated with depot glucocorticoids).