The Veterinary Teaching Hospital at NC State University (VTH) is one of the few veterinary hospitals that provide high field MRI imaging for horses. The magnet is a Siemens Symphony 1.5T (so called high field) and this service is provided within the Veterinary Teaching Hospital by IAMS Pet Imaging Center in conjunction with the Equine Surgery Service.

This unique relationship allow the university to offer high end MR services to clients of the hospital in a state of the art high field magnet, driven by a  dedicated team of experts. The IAMS suite director is an American boarded anesthetist and the magnet is run by a certified human MR technologist.

Patients must be admitted through the VTH, you can do this via your consulting veterinarian or you can make direct contact with the VTH. If the latter, you will be asked to nominate a referring veterinarian at time of discharge to ensure proper follow up.

What to expect

Before booking an MRI study, the case is reviewed by an equine orthopedic specialist and, ideally your consulting veterinarian. It is important that the lameness is accurately documented. If there is any doubt as to the site of lameness then additional diagnostics will need to be done, either by your veterinarian or by specialists at the VTH. There is absolutely no sense in imaging the wrong region. MRI is not usually used as a general screening tool for lameness in the horse, because of the imaging time and expense involved to acquire images of multiple areas.

Horses usually arrive the day before the scheduled exam. They undergo routine pre-anesthetic screening, all shoes are removed and if the feet are to be imaged, radiographs are made to ensure no nail fragments or other metallic debris is present that might result in image quality degradation.

Both the IAMS Pet Imaging Center and the VTH have boarded veterinary anesthetists and every precaution is taken to optimize anesthesia. Sophisticated MRI compatible anesthetic monitoring equipment and MRI compatible anesthetic machines are used. An equine patient spends up to 90 minutes in the magnet room, just over 60 of this is actual imaging the remaining setup and positioning. Special pads are used to optimize patient support. Recovery is usually uneventful and horses usually go home the next day, depending on the findings and if additional diagnostic or therapeutic procedures are elected. A report is generated by a board certified radiologist and the case reviewed extensively by the orthopedic service. Recommendations are made to your attending veterinarian.

The Equine Surgery Service at the NC State VTH involved in the diagnosis and management of orthopedic conditions comprises the following personnel:

William R. Redding, DVM, MS, DACVS Associate Professor, Equine Surgery DVM University of Florida Contact: Phone: 919.513.6286 FAX: 919.513.6362 Email: michael_schramme@ncsu.edu Specialty: Equine Orthopedic Surgery Experience: Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Surgeons Associate, Mayo and Rofe Equine Clinic, Inc, Middleburg, VA 1985-87 Resident, Equine Surgery, Iowa State University, Raleigh, IA 1987-1990 Staff Surgeon, Equine Hospitals, Inc. Hastings, MN 1990-1991 Equine Surgery and Ultrasound Consultation, Burnsville, MN 1991-1995
Michael Schramme, DrMedVet, CertEO, PhD, Dip ECVS Associate Professor, Equine Surgery Contact: Phone: 919.513.6630 / 919.513.6819 FAX: 919.513.6336 Email: michael_schramme@ncsu.edu Specialty: Equine orthopedic surgery and lameness Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Experience: RCVS Certificate in Equine Orthopaedics, 1991 Diplomate, European College of Veterinary Surgeons, 1994 Assistant Surgeon Large Animal Surgery, University of Gent, Belgium, 1985 - 1988 Resident, Equine Surgery, Royal Veterinary College, London, 1988 - 1991 Lecturer in Equine Surgery, Royal Veterinary College, London, 1991 - 2000 Senior Orthopaedic Surgeon, Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, 2000 - 2002 Visiting Assistant Professor Large Animal Surgery, Cornell University, 2003 – 2004
Richard A. Mansmann, VMD, PhD PhD in Comparative Pathology, 1974 University of California - Davis VMD, May 1968 Contact: Phone: 919.513.0035 FAX: 919.515.7510 Email: dick_mansmann@ncsu.edu Specialty: Equine Health Program Experience: Member of American Association of Equine Practitioners, 1968 – present Owner, Central Carolina Equine Practice, Chapel Hill, NC, 1995 – present Visiting Professor, Equine Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, New Bolton Center, Spring 1995 Head of Equine Field Service, North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, 1993-1995 Owner, Santa Barbara Equine Practice, Santa Barbara, CA, 1974-1992 Assistant Professor, Equine Medicine, Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, 1972-1974 Ph.D. in comparative pathology, University of California-Davis, 1969-1974 William E. duPont, Jr. Memorial Fellow, University of California-Davis, 1970-1972 Intern, Equine Medicine & Surgery, University of California-Davis, 1968-1969