AVA Conference Adelaide 2016

The aim of this presentation is to present a wide range of Equine wounds of the head and trunk, in order to describe some different wound management techniques and some of the intricacies of working in these areas in the large animal.  Whilst less common than limb lacerations and wounds, injuries of the head and trunk in horses pose a significant part of the Equine clinician’s caseload.  The types of head injuries that will be discussed range from fractures of the maxilla and mandible, along with those involving the tooth roots, paranasal sinuses, the poll and the calvarium. The management of such cases obviously needs to be multidisciplined, due to the varied anatomical structures that are involved with the wounds, along with the high energy associated with many of these traumas.  Trunk wounds described in this talk will range from small (but often deep) penetrations that can involve both the thoracic and abdominal cavities.  There will also be graphic examples of extensive lacerations involving almost the entire body and unhappily, mutilations associated with sadism.  Burn injuries associated with barn and bushfires will not be discussed, as they are beyond the scope of this presentation.